Declaring access to beaches a “fundamental human right,” two legislators in Massachusetts have filed a bill that would change the boundary of private property along the ocean. The bill would mandate public access to any beach in Massachusetts from the high tide line to the water. Current law recognizes private property to the low tide line. Despite the claims of “open beaches” advocates, tides don’t change property rights.
One of the legislators who introduced the bill stated,
I’ve gotten emails and phone calls from people all over the state just giving us horror stories of getting screamed at, chased with shovels and golf clubs, berated just for touching a little piece of private beach in the intertidal zone. And people are fed up with that.
Entering private property without the owner’s consent is trespassing. The legislator’s solution to trespassing is to simply declare the beach between the tide lines to be “public property.” He wants to punish private property owners, not those who violate the right to property.
There is no such thing as the right to beach access. Rights pertain to freedom of action. Rights protect our freedom to take the actions we deem appropriate in the pursuit of the values we need and desire. The rights of others prohibit us from initiating physical force to interfere with their freedom of action.
Entering private property without the owner’s consent is an initiation of force. Trespassing interferes with the owner’s freedom to establish the terms and conditions for using his property.
The purpose of this bill is not the protection of the illusory right to beach access. The purpose is to annihilate an actual right—the right to property. Tides don’t change property rights, but legislators can enact laws that violate those rights.