Public trust

Public trust is both a political idea and, in the United States, a legal doctrine. As a political idea it rests on the premise that true power in a democratic government lies with the public, so that whatever trust citizens place in their officials must be respected, casting elected officials and government bodies as trustees acting on behalf of the people they serve. As a legal doctrine in the United States, public trust is a term of art referring to public property belonging to the whole of the people; following the 1892 Supreme Court decision in Illinois Central Railroad Co. v. Illinois, which held that states manage submerged lands in trust for their citizens, the doctrine expanded from elected officials to cover natural resources as well. Together these strands frame public trust as a relationship combining institutional accountability with a broader stewardship of public resources and interests. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/