Section 44-8-5. Rights of adjoining landowners in navigable streams

   (a) As used in this chapter, the term "navigable stream" means a stream which is capable of transporting boats loaded with freight in the regular course of trade either for the whole or a part of the year. The mere rafting of timber or the transporting of wood in small boats shall not make a stream navigable.

(b) The rights of the owner of lands which are adjacent to navigable streams extend to the low-water mark in the bed of the stream.

Orig. Code 1863, §§ 2208, 2209; Code 1868, §§ 2203, 2204; Code 1873, §§ 2229, 2230; Code 1882, §§ 2229, 2230; Civil Code 1895, §§ 3059, 3060; Civil Code 1910, §§ 3631, 3632; Code 1933, §§ 85-1303, 85-1304; Ga. L. 1982, p. 3, § 44.