RECENT IRRIGATION LEGISLATION. 413 



State it can administer it as proprietor-, while if it belongs to the j)ublic 

 the State administers it as sovereign, under its police powers. This 

 seems to be largely an academic question, and the new laws passed 

 since 1905 in New Mexico and South Dakota declare water to belong 

 to the public, while Nevada rei)ealed a similar declaration and in 1907 

 declaretl it to be the projierty of the State. The Oregon law adopted 

 in 1909 makes no declaration on this point, providing that '^subject 

 to existing rights, all waters wdthin the State may be appropriated 

 for beneficial use." 



Wyoming in 1909 incorporated in its laws a definition of a water 

 right which is interesting. It is as follows: 



A water right is a right to use the water of the State, when such right has been 

 acquired by beneficial application of water under the laws of the State relating thereto, 

 and in conformity with the rules and regulations dependent thereon. Beneficial use 

 shall be the basis, the measure, and the limit of right to use water at all times, not ex- 

 ceeding in any case the statutory limit of volume. 



This is followed b}^ a clause gi^'ing the relation of rights to w^ater for 

 different uses, as follows: 



Preferred uses. — Water may be condemned for preferred uses, as follows: First: 

 Drinking by manor bea.st. Second: Water for municij)al purpo.-<es. Third: Water for 

 steam engines and for general railway use. Fourth: Water for culinary, laundry, 

 bathing, refrigerating (including manufacture of ice), and for steam and hot-water 

 heating plants. The use of water for irrigation shall be superior and preferred to any 

 use where turbine or impulse water wheels are installed for power purposes. 



The procedure embraces a public notice, an inspection and hearing if necessary, 

 and an order by the board of control. 



Oregon is one of the few States containing arid lands in which 

 riparian rights are recognized, and for many years this has stood in 

 the way of the adoption of laws pro\4ding for the diversion and use 

 of water on nonriparian lands. The 1909 law recognizes riparian 

 rights made use of in the past but abrogates them for the future, 

 the clause covering that point being as follows (Laws 1909, ch. 216, 

 sec. 70) : 



Nothing in this act shall impair any vested right. Use of water by riparian owners 

 prior to this act confers a right to the extent of use. If riparian owner has in good faith 

 begun works at time of this act, the right to take and use such water is deemed vested, 

 but board of control may fix date for completion. 



The people of Colorado seem to be a|)prehensive of the encroach- 

 ments of the Federal Government on the State's control of both lands 

 and watcis within the State, and in 1909 the logislatuio authorized the 

 attorney-general to — 



invest igalo acts of the Federal Government in re^'ard to ]nil)lic lands in the State of 

 Colorado, and in regard to the waters of the State; and to iii.'^tilute such suits as he may 

 deem necessary in the name of the State to determine whether or not the Federal 

 Government is encroaching upon or usurping the rights and powers of the State to the 

 detriment of the intf^rests of the people, or in any way in Colorado violating the lawe 

 or the Constitution of the United States. 



