DERELICT (from

See also:

• LAT

Lat. derelinquere, to forsake)  , in law, property thrown away or abandoned by the owner in such a manner as to indicate that he intends to make no further claim to DERHAM 73 it . The word is used more particularly with respect to property abandoned at sea (see WRECK), but it is also applied in other senses; for example, land gained from the sea by receding of the water is termed dereliction . Land gained gradually and slowly by dereliction belongs to the owner of the adjoining land, but in the case of sudden or considerable dereliction the land belongs to the Crown . This technical use of the term " dereliction " is to be distinguished from the more general modern sense, dereliction or abandonment of duty, which implies a culpable failure or neglect in moral or legal obligation .