130 BOARD OF AGRICULTUEE. 



to excuse him from his liability to pay C. the damages occa- 

 sioned thereby. 



The owner of land has a right to erect one-half of a parti- 

 tion fence of reasonable dimensions on the land of the adjoin- 

 ing owner, and in its erection, if more than one-half is built 

 upon the land of the adjoining owner without his consent, he 

 may remove the excess, and if in order to effect such removal 

 it becomes necessary to take down the whole fence, he may 

 rightfully do so ; and whenever a "ditch" is a proper fence, 

 the owner of land may construct one-half of a ditch of reason- 

 able dimensions on the land of adjoining owners. 



The whole law may be generally summed up, by saying 

 that " the owner of cattle is bound at his peril to restrain 

 them from trespassing upon the lands of his neighbor." 



SURFACE WATER. 



To what extent the owner of land has a right to turn the 

 surface water on his land upon the land of an adjoining owner, 

 or how^ far he has a right to jDrevent it from coming upon his 

 land from the adjoining land, has received considerable atten- 

 tion, and the law seems well settled. The right of an owner 

 of land to occupy and improve it in such manner and for such 

 purposes as he may see fit, either by changing the surface, or 

 the erection of buildings or other structures thereon, is not 

 restricted or modified by the fact that his own land is so 

 situated with reference to that of adjoining owners that an 

 alteration in the mode of its improvement or occupation in any 

 portion of it will cause water which may accumulate thereon 

 by rains and snows falling on its surface or flowing on to it 

 over the surface of adjacent lots, either to stand in unusual 

 quantities on other adjacent lands, or pass into and over the 

 same in greater quantities or in other directions than they 

 were accustomed to flow. Where there is no water-course by 

 grant or prescription, and no stipulation exists between con- 

 terminous proprietors of land concerning the mode in which 

 their respective parcels shall be occupied and improved, no 

 right to regulate or control the surface drainage of water can 

 be asserted by the owner of one lot over that of his neighbors. 



The legal maxim — " cujus est solum, ejus est, usque ad cce- 

 lum," " he who possesses land possesses also that which is 



