ripa

from Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
RIPA. The bank of a river, or the place beyond which the waters do not in 
their natural course overflow. 
     2. An extraordinary overflow does not change the banks of the river. 
Poth. Pand. lib. 50, h.t. See Banks of rivers; Riparian proprietors; 
Rivers. 
    

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