Justice Gray, in Shively v. Bowlby, 152 U.S. 1 (1894), summarized the basis for transferral of "sovereign rights" in the beds and banks of streams to the original States and to the "new States" under the "Equal Footing Doctrine":

"The common law of England upon this subject, at the time of the emigration of our ancestors, is the law of this country, except so far as it has been modified by the charters, constitutions, statutes, or usages of the several colonies and states, or by the constitution and laws of the United States.

"The English possessions in America were claimed by right of discovery. Having been discovered by subjects of the king of England, and taken possession of in his name, by his authority or with his assent, they were held by the king as the representative of, and in trust for, the nation, and all vacant lands, and the exclusive power to grant them, were vested in him. The various charters granted by different monarchs of the Stuart dynasty for large tracts of territory on the Atlantic coast conveyed to the grantees both the territory described and the powers of government, including the property and the dominion of lands under tide waters; and, upon the American Revolution, all the rights of the crown and of parliament vested in the several states, subject to the rights surrendered to the national government by the constitution of the United States. Johnson v. McIntosh, 8 Wheat. 543, 595; Martin v. Waddell, 16 Pet. 367, 408-410, 414; Com. v. City of Roxbury, 9 Gray, 451, 478-481; Stevens v. Railroad Co., 34 N. J. Law, 532; People v. New York & S. I. Ferry Co., 68 N. Y. 71.

"The leading case in this court, as to the title and dominion of tide waters and of the lands under them, is Martin v. Waddell, (1842,) 16 Pet. 367... An action of ejectment was brought in the circuit court of the United States for the district of New Jersey for land under tide waters in Raritan bay and river, to which the plaintiff claimed title under specific conveyances of that land from the Proprietors of East Jersey, and of which the defendants were in possession, for the purpose of planting and growing oysters, under a statute passed by the legislature of the state of New Jersey in 1824.

"This court, following, though not resting wholly upon, the decision of the supreme court of New Jersey in Arnold v. Mundy, 6 N. J. Law, 1, gave judgment for the defendants for reasons assigned in the opinion delivered by Chief Justice Taney, which cannot be better summed up than in his own words:

'The country mentioned in the letters patent was held by the king in his public and regal character as the representative of the nation, and in trust for them.' 16 Pet. 409. By those charters, in view of the principles stated by Lord Hale in the passage above quoted concerning the right of fishing, 'the dominion and propriety in the navigable waters, and in the soils under them, passed as a part of the prerogative rights annexed to the political powers conferred on the duke;' and 'in his hands they were intended to be a trust for the common use of the new community about to be established,'-'a public trust for the benefit of the whole community, to be freely used by all for navigation and fishery, as well for shellfish as floating fish,'-and not as 'private property, to be parceled out and sold by the duke for his own individual emolument.'

'And, in the judgment of the court, the lands under the navigable waters passed to the grantee as one of the royalties incident to the powers of government, and were to be held by him in the same manner, and for the same purposes, that the navigable waters of England, and the soils under them, are held by the crown.' Id. pp. 411-413. The surrender by the proprietors in 1702 restored to the crown all 'its ordinary and well-known prerogatives,' including 'the great right of dominion and ownership in the rivers, bays, and arms of the sea, and the soils under them,' 'in the same plight and condition in which they originally came to the hands of the Duke of York.' Id. p. 416. 'When the Revolution took place, the people of each state become themselves sovereign, and in that character hold the absolute right to all their navigable waters, and the soils under them, for their own common use, subject only to the rights since surrendered by the constitution to the general government.' Id. p. 410. "

"The new states admitted into the Union since the adoption of the constitution have the same rights as the original states in the tide waters, and in the lands below the high-water mark, within their respective jurisdictions.

"The act of 1783, and the deed of 1784, by which the state of Virginia, before the adoption of the constitution, ceded 'unto the United States in congress assembled, for the benefit of the said states, all right, title and claim, as well of soil as jurisdiction,' to the Northwest Territory, and the similar cession by the state of Georgia to the United States, in 1802, of territory including a great part of Alabama and of Mississippi, each provided that the territory so ceded should be formed into states, to be admitted, on attaining a certain population, into the Union, (in the words of the Virginia cession,) 'having the same rights of sovereignty, freedom, and independence as the other states,' or (in the words of the ordinance of congress of July 13, 1787, for the government of the Northwest Territory, adopted in the Georgia cession) 'on an equal footing with the original states in all respects whatever;' and that 'all the lands within' the territory so ceded to the United States, and not reserved or appropriated for other purposes, should be considered as a common fund for the use and benefit of the United States. Charters & Constitutions, pp. 427, 428, 432, 433; Clayton's Laws of Georgia, pp. 48- 51; Acts Cong. April 7, 1798, c. 28, (1 Stat. 549,) May 10, 1800, c. 50, and March 3, 1803, c. 27, (2 Stat. 69, 229;) Pollard's Lessee v. Hagan, 3 How. 212, 221, 222.

"In Pollard's Lessee v. Hagan, (1844,) this court, upon full consideration, (overruling anything to the contrary in Pollard v. Kibbe, 14 Pet. 353; Mobile v. Eslava, 16 Pet. 234; Mobile v. Hallett, 16 Pet. 261; Mobile v. Emanuel, 1 How. 95; and Pollard v. Files, 2 How. 591,) adjudged that, upon the admission of the state of Alabama into the Union, the title in the lands below high-water mark of navigable waters passed to the state, and could not afterwards be granted away by the congress of the United States.

"Mr. Justice McKinley, delivering the opinion of the court, (Mr. Justice Catron alone dissenting,) said:

'When Alabama was admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original states, she succeeded to all the rights of sovereignty, jurisdiction, and eminent domain which Georgia possessed at the date of the cession, except so far as this right was diminished by the public lands remaining in the possession and under the control of the United States for the temporary purposes provided for in the deed of cession and the legislative acts connected with it. Nothing remained to the United States, according to the terms of the agreement, but the public lands.' 3 How. 221-223.

'Alabama is therefore entitled to the sovereignty and jurisdiction over all the territory within her limits, subject to the common law, to the same extent that Georgia possessed it before she ceded it to the United States. To maintain any other doctrine is to deny that Alabama has been admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original states, the constitution, laws, and compact to the contrary notwithstanding.' 'Then to Alabama belong the navigable waters, and soils under them, in controversy in this case, subject to the rights surrendered by the constitution to the United States.' 3 How. 228, 229."

"That these decisions do not, as contended by the learned counsel for the plaintiff in error, rest solely upon the terms of the deed of cession from the state of Georgia to the United States, clearly appears from the constant recognition of the same doctrine as applicable to California, which was acquired from Mexico by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848, (9 Stat. 926;)   U. S. v. Pacheco, (1864,) 2 Wall. 587; Mumford v. Wardwell, (1867,) 6 Wall. 423; Weber v. Commissioners, (1873,) 18 Wall. 57; Packer v. Bird, (1891,) 137 U.S. 661, 666, 11 S. Sup. Ct. 210; City and County of San Francisco v. Le Roy, (1891,) 138 U.S. 656, 671, 11 S. Sup. Ct. 364; Knight v. Association, (1891,) 142 U.S. 161, 12 Sup. Ct. 258.

"In the very recent case of Knight v. Association, Mr. Justice Lamar, in delivering judgment, said: 'It is the settled rule of law in this court that absolute property in, and dominion and sovereignty over, the soils under the tide waters in the original states, were reserved to the several states, and that the new states since admitted have the same rights, sovereignty, and jurisdiction, in that behalf, as the original states possess within their respective borders. Upon the acquisition of the territory from Mexico, the United States acquired the title to tide lands, equally with the title to upland; but with respect to the former they held it only in trust for the future states that might be erected out of such territory.' 142 U.S. 183, 12 Sup. Ct. 258. In support of these propositions he referred to Martin v. Waddell, Pollard's Lessee v. Hagan, Mumford v. Wardwell, and Weber v. Commissioners, above cited.

"In that case, it was further held, as it had previously been declared in San Francisco v. Le Roy, above cited, that 'this doctrine does not apply to lands that had been previously granted to other parties by the former government, or subjected to trusts which would require their disposition in some other way;' and that, when the United States acquired California from Mexico by the treaty, they were bound by its stipulations, and by the principles of international law, to protect all rights of property acquired under previous lawful grants from the Mexican government, (142 U.S. 183, 184, 12 S. Sup. Ct. 258;)..."