§ 84. Damage caused by termination of canal navigation. No part of the canal system of the state which was improved pursuant to chapter seven hundred ten of the laws of nineteen hundred seven and the acts supplemental thereto and amendatory thereof, shall be abandoned or navigation thereof permanently closed, nor shall the state cede or transfer ownership, jurisdiction or control thereof to the United States pursuant to authority conferred by constitutional amendment, until the expiration of one year after the corporation shall have been authorized and empowered by law to cause a notice of intention to take such action to be published once in each month during such year in at least one newspaper published in each county adjacent to the part of such canal system affected by such notice. Each person, who, at the time of the first publication of such notice, is the owner of a commercial float registered pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, which, at the close of navigation in such year, shall have been actually engaged in the navigation of the part of such canal system so abandoned, closed, ceded or transferred, or so relinquished to the jurisdiction or control of the United States, may present a claim for damages against the state including the corporation to a court of competent jurisdiction, which court shall hear and determine the liability of the corporation therefor; and, if the court shall find that such person has suffered or sustained damages by reason of such abandonment, closing, ceding, transfer, or relinquishment which the corporation, in right and justice, or in law or equity, is obligated to pay, such damages shall constitute a valid and legal claim against the corporation, and the corporation shall be deemed liable therefor, and the court may make an award to such person and render a judgment in his favor against the corporation in such sums as it shall find to be just and equitable. It is declared to be the purpose of this section to encourage and induce the construction of boats for use upon such canal system and their operation thereon and to protect from loss, financial investments made in such construction and operation caused by an abrupt, permanent termination of navigation, or the creation of conditions, which would result in the impairment, limitation or destruction of navigation of such canal system by such floats.
