1-302 - Jurisdiction and ownership of Commonwealth over offshore waters and submerged lands.
§ 1-302. Jurisdiction and ownership of Commonwealth over offshore waters andsubmerged lands.
A. The jurisdiction of the Commonwealth shall extend to and over, and beexercisable with respect to, waters offshore from the coasts of theCommonwealth as follows:
1. The marginal sea and the high seas to the extent claimed in the VirginiaConstitution of 1776 and not thereafter ceded by action of the GeneralAssembly.
2. All submerged lands, including the subsurface thereof, lying under thewaters listed in subdivision 1 of this subsection.
B. The ownership of the waters and submerged lands enumerated or described insubsection A of this section shall be in the Commonwealth unless it shall be,with respect to any given parcel or area, in any other person or entity byvirtue of a valid and effective instrument of conveyance or by operation oflaw.
C. Nothing contained herein shall be construed to limit or restrict in anyway:
1. The jurisdiction of the Commonwealth over any person or with respect toany subject within or without the Commonwealth which jurisdiction isexercisable by reason of citizenship, residence, or for any other reasonrecognized by law.
2. The jurisdiction or ownership of or over any other waters or submergedlands, within or forming part of the boundaries of the Commonwealth. Norshall anything in this section be construed to impair the exercise oflegislative jurisdiction by the United States over any area to which suchjurisdiction has been validly ceded by the Commonwealth and that remains inthe ownership of the United States.
D. Nothing in this section shall alter the geographic area to which any actof the General Assembly applies if the act specifies the area precisely inmiles or by some other numerical designation of distance or position.However, nothing in the act or in this section shall be construed as a waiveror relinquishment of jurisdiction or ownership by the Commonwealth over or inany area to which such jurisdiction or ownership extends by virtue of thissection or any other provision or rule of law.
(Code 1950, § 7-1.1; 1960, c. 518; 1966, c. 102, § 7.1-2; 1972, c. 689; 2005,c. 839.)