Derelict, Derelicto

DERELICT - This term is applied in the common law in a different sense from what it bears in the civil law. In the former it is applied to lands left by the sea.

When so left by degrees the derelict land belongs to the owner of the soil adjoining, but when the sea retires suddenly, it belongs to the government.

DERELICTO - Goods voluntarily abandoned by their owner; however, he must leave them not only sine spe revertendi, but also sine animzo revertendi; his intention to abandon them may be inferred by the great length of time during which he may have been out of possession without any attempt to regain them.
   

This entry contains material from Bouvier's Legal Dictionary, a work published in the 1850's.