THE FLOW OF SURFACE WATER. 131 



above it," — is established as a general rule, applicable to the 

 use and enjojTnent of real property, and the right of a party 

 to the free and unfettered control of his own land, above, 

 upon and beneath the surface, cannot be interfered with or 

 restrained by any considerations of injury to others, which 

 may be occasioned by the flow of mere surface water in con- 

 sequence of the lawful appropriation of land by its owner to a 

 particular use or mode of enjoyment. 



Nor is it at all material in the application of this principle 

 of law, whether a party obstructs or changes the direction and 

 flow of surface water by preventing it from coming within the 

 limits of his land, or by erecting barriers or changing the level 

 of the soil, so as to turn it off in a new course after it has 

 come within his boundaries. 



So that the obstruction of surface water or an alteration in 

 the flow of it aflbrds no cause of" action in behalf of a person 

 who may suffer loss or detriment therefrom against one who 

 does no act inconsistent with the due exercise of dominion 

 over his own soil. A party may improve any portion of his 

 land, although he may thereby cause the surface water flowing 

 thereon, whencesoever it may come, to pass off in a different 

 direction and in larger quantities than previously. 



If such an act injures the laud adjoining, the owner thereof 

 has no remedy for damage. 



There can be no doubt in the application of the rule that it 

 applies to land naturally wet and swampy. Any adjacent 

 owner of land may raise his land by grading or filling so as to 

 prevent the flow of surface water from the adjoining estate 

 upon his land, and it makes no difference that it has been 

 accustomed thus to flow for a long term of years. 



The supreme court of this Commonwealth asserts the prin- 

 ciple, "that no length of time creates an easement by which 

 the owner of the lower lot is precluded from using his own 

 land as he will, although the natural overflow of water may 

 be thereby stopped and set back upon the upper estate. 



In a recent case in Rhode Island, in which the right of sur- 

 face drainage for agricultural purposes was a subject for 

 discussion, the learned chief justice said: " Water, whether 

 it has fallen as rain, or has come from the overflow of a pond, 

 or swamp, which sinks into the top soil, and struggles through 



