French Civil Code

Where the plantations, constructions and works have been made by a third party and with materials belonging to the latter, the owner of the land has the right, subject to the provisions of paragraph 4, either to retain ownership of them or to oblige the third party to remove them. If the owner of the land requires the removal of the constructions, plantations and works, it shall be carried out…

The landings and accretions that successively and imperceptibly form at the riparian bottoms of a watercourse are called “alluvium”. Alluvium benefits the riparian owner, whether the watercourse is state-owned or not; on condition, in the former case, that the footpath or towpath is left, in accordance with the regulations.

The same applies to the relays formed by running water which insensibly withdraws from one of its banks by bearing on the other: the owner of the uncovered bank benefits from the alluvium, without the riparian on the opposite side being able to come and claim there the land he has lost. This right does not arise with regard to the relays of the sea.

Alluvion does not take place in respect of lakes and ponds, the owner of which always retains the land that the water covers when it is at the level of the discharge of the pond, even if the volume of water comes to diminish. Reciprocally, the owner of the pond acquires no right to the riparian land that its water comes to cover in extraordinary floods.

If a watercourse, whether state-owned or not, removes by a sudden force a considerable and recognisable part of a riparian field, and carries it to a lower field or to the opposite bank, the owner of the part removed may claim his property; but he is bound to make his claim within one year: after that time, he will no longer be eligible, unless the owner of the field to…

Islands, islets and landings that form in the bed of state-owned watercourses belong to the public entity that owns the domain concerned, in the absence of a title or prescription to the contrary.

Islands and landings that form in non-domain watercourses belong to the riparian owners on the side where the island has formed: if the island is not formed on one side only, it belongs to the riparian owners on both sides, starting from the line that is assumed to be drawn in the middle of the watercourse.

If a watercourse, in forming a new branch, cuts across and embraces the field of a riparian owner, and makes an island of it, that owner retains ownership of his field, even though the island has formed in a state-owned watercourse.

If a state-owned watercourse forms a new course by abandoning its old bed, the riparian owners may acquire ownership of this old bed, each in his or her own right, up to a line assumed to be drawn through the middle of the watercourse. The price of the old bed is fixed by experts appointed by the president of the court in the location of the place, at the request…

Pigeons, rabbits, fish, which pass into another dovecote, rabbit warren or body of water referred to in articles L. 431-6 and L. 431-7 of the Environment Code belong to their owner, provided they have not been lured there by fraud or artifice.