Water and boundaries

Reliction

Land uncovered when water permanently recedes

The water withdraws and the land it leaves belongs to the owner whose property it adjoins. Like accretion the process is gradual, and the gradualness is what makes it an addition to the parcel rather than a boundary dispute.

Easily confused with

Avulsion is the sudden version — a flood or a channel shifting in a single event — and it does not move boundaries the way the gradual processes do.

How the exam asks about it

Grouped with accretion, alluvion, erosion and avulsion. Reliction is water leaving; accretion is soil arriving.

Quick check: Reliction

One question. Pick an answer to see the explanation.

Which term is being defined: “Land uncovered when water permanently recedes”?

Related terms

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