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In France, la Loi littoral guarantees public access to the shoreline, everywhere. Or at least it should since it's often compromised by private interests. But i

In France, la Loi littoral guarantees public access to the shoreline, everywhere. Or at least it should since it's often compromised by private interests. But it's still quite good for anyone who likes the sea, ocean and coasts. I'd love France to also have a "right to roam" law like Norway. Are there such laws in your country? How well is it enforced?

Tomte 7y ago
Germany has a similar right, not for coastlines, but for forest. Everyone may enter the forest. Private owners may not forbid it.
narag 7y ago
Spain is the same. There are some loopholes, like limiting land access with an "eco tax", but that's useless against boats. I watched recently on tv a program attacking "party boats" that took a lot of young people, many of them Brits on holydays, to a closed beach frequented by Hollywood celebs, with all-you-can-drink included.
wil421 7y ago
In most states no. It’s a feature not a bug. Property rights are considered sacred. Plenty of people don’t want the government telling them what to do on their property. It’s bad in this situation but good for owners in plenty of others. Fort Walton county is one of 2 counties in Florida where the property owners own the beach to the high tide line. You’re allowed to walk on the beach around the water line but not setup on the beach. The Sheriff and county decided they want to change it and is now suing all the beach owners in Fort Walton (my wife’s family being one of them). The Florida governor signed an emergency Bill that they couldn’t just take the land all of the sudden they had to go through the courts. The Sheriff’s office came out and said they would stop issuing or enforcing trespassing on the beach and lesson beach patrols. The home owners legally own the beach. The county officials want to take it from them without paying anything and change the uniqueness of the county that drew home owners in the first place. I can see both sides but the county government and Sheriff can’t just decide one day they want to take property. No vote or anything just we want to take it. My family owns a condo in the next county over. It’s a lot more noisy and I can see why home owners were draw to Fort Walton in the first place.
- arcticbull 7y ago
  > Plenty of people don’t want the government telling them what to do on their property. Sure if we pretend libertarianism exists as a functional concept. Can you build an enrichment facility on your property? No. Can you dump toxic chemicals into your well? Nope! Can you fly drones at 30K feet? Nah. Can you brew up a batch of grandma’s finest crystal meth? No siree bob. So yeah, you accept plenty of encroachment. The sanctity of your property is an arbitrary line you’re drawing to exclude campers, sunbathers and randos off on a hike. That’s sure to teach somebody... something...
  - wil421 7y ago
    Could I buy property zoned for industrial use and build an industrial or chemical facility? Yes. Can I buy residentially zoned property and do residential things on it? Yes. Could you do illegal things anywhere? Yes but you’ll face the consequences.
    - arcticbull 7y ago
      You're actually kind of making my point here. You're accepting the governments intrusion (defining what can and can't be done on "your" tract of land via zoning and law). And that's my point. Once you accept that it's a question of where you draw the line -- you're debating shades of grey and not moral black and white.

Tomte 7y ago

Germany has a similar right, not for coastlines, but for forest. Everyone may enter the forest. Private owners may not forbid it.

narag 7y ago

Spain is the same. There are some loopholes, like limiting land access with an "eco tax", but that's useless against boats. I watched recently on tv a program attacking "party boats" that took a lot of young people, many of them Brits on holydays, to a closed beach frequented by Hollywood celebs, with all-you-can-drink included.

wil421 7y ago

In most states no. It’s a feature not a bug. Property rights are considered sacred. Plenty of people don’t want the government telling them what to do on their property. It’s bad in this situation but good for owners in plenty of others. Fort Walton county is one of 2 counties in Florida where the property owners own the beach to the high tide line. You’re allowed to walk on the beach around the water line but not setup on the beach. The Sheriff and county decided they want to change it and is now suing all the beach owners in Fort Walton (my wife’s family being one of them). The Florida governor signed an emergency Bill that they couldn’t just take the land all of the sudden they had to go through the courts. The Sheriff’s office came out and said they would stop issuing or enforcing trespassing on the beach and lesson beach patrols. The home owners legally own the beach. The county officials want to take it from them without paying anything and change the uniqueness of the county that drew home owners in the first place. I can see both sides but the county government and Sheriff can’t just decide one day they want to take property. No vote or anything just we want to take it. My family owns a condo in the next county over. It’s a lot more noisy and I can see why home owners were draw to Fort Walton in the first place.

arcticbull 7y ago
> Plenty of people don’t want the government telling them what to do on their property. Sure if we pretend libertarianism exists as a functional concept. Can you build an enrichment facility on your property? No. Can you dump toxic chemicals into your well? Nope! Can you fly drones at 30K feet? Nah. Can you brew up a batch of grandma’s finest crystal meth? No siree bob. So yeah, you accept plenty of encroachment. The sanctity of your property is an arbitrary line you’re drawing to exclude campers, sunbathers and randos off on a hike. That’s sure to teach somebody... something...
- wil421 7y ago
  Could I buy property zoned for industrial use and build an industrial or chemical facility? Yes. Can I buy residentially zoned property and do residential things on it? Yes. Could you do illegal things anywhere? Yes but you’ll face the consequences.
  - arcticbull 7y ago
    You're actually kind of making my point here. You're accepting the governments intrusion (defining what can and can't be done on "your" tract of land via zoning and law). And that's my point. Once you accept that it's a question of where you draw the line -- you're debating shades of grey and not moral black and white.