Virginia Code 41.1-3: Grants of certain lands, etc., to be void; such lands, etc., under control of Governor
No grant shall be valid or effectual in law to pass any estate or interest in (i) any lands unappropriated or belonging to the Commonwealth, which embrace the old magazine at Westham, or any stone quarry now worked by the Commonwealth, or any lands which are within a mile of such magazine, or any such quarry; (ii) any ungranted beds of bays, rivers, creeks and the shores of the sea under § 28.2-1200; (iii) any natural oyster bed, rock, or shoal, whether such bed, rock, or shoal shall ebb bare or not; (iv) any islands created in the navigable waters of the Commonwealth through the instrumentality of dredging or filling operations; (v) any islands which rise from any lands which are property of the Commonwealth under § 28.2-1201; or (vi) any ungranted shores of the sea, marsh or meadowlands as defined in § 28.2-1500. Every such grant for any such lands, islands, bed, rock, or shoal shall be absolutely void; however, this section shall not be construed to affect the title to grants issued prior to March 15, 1932. Such magazine and every such stone quarry and the lands of the Commonwealth adjacent to or in their neighborhood, shall be under the control of the Governor, who may make such regulations concerning the same as he may deem best for the interests of the Commonwealth.
Code 1950, § 41-8; 1970, c. 291; 1991, c. 378; 1995, c. 850.