---
title: "Colquhoun’s Trustees v Orr Ewing & Co"
description: "Case Report: (1877) 4R344; reversed by the House of Lords (1877) 4R (HL) 116 **The facts:**In this case the piers of a railway bridge were built on a riverbed. It was claimed that they interfered with the public’s right of navigation.…"
url: "https://scotways.com/ken/colquhouns-trustees-v-orr-ewing-co/"
updated: "2025-06-05"
category: Navigation rights and rights in relation to the foreshore / Navigation rights
tags:
  - Access to Water
  - Case Law Navigation rights and rights in relation to the foreshore
  - Court Case
---

# Colquhoun’s Trustees v Orr Ewing & Co

Case Report: (1877) 4R344; reversed by the House of Lords (1877) 4R (HL) 116

**The facts:**In this case the piers of a railway bridge were built on a riverbed. It was claimed that they interfered with the public’s right of navigation.

**Decision:**The court said that the piers did not interfere with the public’s right of navigation.

**Comment:** The Crown owns the bed of public rivers in the same way that it owns the bed of the sea. The court looked at the question of what is a ‘public river’. Until the late eighteenth century, the criterion for a public river was whether or not it was navigable. A navigable river was treated in the same way as the sea. However, this case changed the test. A public river became a river that was tidal.