Legal Definitions - Shively presumption

The Shively presumption is a legal doctrine that states any prestatehood grant of public property does not include tidelands unless the grant specifically indicates otherwise. This means that if a grant was made before a state was admitted to the Union, it is assumed that the grant did not include the rights to tidelands unless it was explicitly stated in the grant.

For example, if a land grant was made to a person in 1850, before California became a state in 1851, it would be assumed that the grant did not include the rights to the tidelands unless the grant specifically mentioned it. This presumption was established in the case of Shively v. Bowlby in 1894 and has been upheld in subsequent cases.

The Shively presumption is based on the equal-footing doctrine, which states that any state admitted to the Union after 1789 has the same rights, sovereignty, and jurisdiction within its borders as the original 13 states. This means that any prestatehood grants must be interpreted in a way that is consistent with the state's equal footing with the original states.