Cornish Foreshore Case

The Cornish Foreshore Case was an arbitration case held between 1854 and 1858 to resolve a formal dispute between the British Crown and the Duchy of Cornwall over the rights to minerals and mines under the foreshore of Cornwall in the southwest of England, most of which was owned by the duchy.^[1] The arbitration led to the Cornwall Submarine Mines Act 1858, which confirmed those rights for the duchy between the high and low water marks but not beyond.^[2] Sir John Patteson served as arbitrator, while the Rt. Hon. Thomas Pemberton Leigh, Baron Kingsdown (during the course of the debate elevated to the peerage) represented the duchy.