Accretion

Accretion [fr. accresco, or adcresco, Lat.], the act of growing to a thing; usually applied to the gradual and imperceptible accumulation of land out of the sea or a river. Accretion of land is of two kinds: by alluvion, i.e., by the washing up of sand or soil, so as to form firm ground; or by dereliction, as when the sea shrinks below the usual water mark. If this accretion of land be by small and imperceptible degrees, it belongs to the owner of the land immediately adjacent to it, but if it be sudden and considerable it belongs to the Crown, Hale, De Jure Maris, 14; 2 Bl. Com. Ch. Xvi; A.G. of Southern Nigeria v. John Holt & Co., 1915 AC p. 613. Consult Coulson & Forbes on the Law of Waters. See ACCESSION.