FIFTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VI. 513 



APPRAISEMENTS OF DAMAGES AND ASSESSMENT OF 

 BENEFITS IN DRAINAGE WORK. 



Address of Mr. C. G. Elliott, Drainage Expert, Department of Agriculture .^ 

 Washington, D. C., Before the Iowa State Drainage Convention, Iowa State 

 College, January 13-14, 1905: 



Without a State law providing for the co-operation of landowners in the 

 execution of drainage work, no such improvements of a general character are 

 impossible. Common law, by which is understood the law established by 

 court rulings or customs reaching back a century or more, has operated 

 against and in many instances prevented the drainage of farm lands in this 

 country. According to these rulings, the water of streams must flow as it 

 always has flowed. If nature has placed it in ponds, lakes and sloughs, it 

 must remain there. When a landowner attempts to change or modify the 

 flow of a stream, however small, by artificial means, or discharge water into 

 it in a manner different from that of nature, he may in the absence of a 

 specific statute governing such cases be enjoined by a neighboring property 

 owner, provided injury or inconvenience therefrom can be shown. 



OBJECT OF A DRAINAGE LAW. 



The object of a State drainage law should be to permit owners of lands 

 to combine or co-operate in draining them when necessary and to apportion 

 the cost of the work to each as his property may be benefited. At the same 

 time, owners should be secured in their property rights and have the oppor- 

 tunity to obtain redress in the proper courts if the apportionment of the 

 expense of the work and appraisement of damages are not equitable and 

 fair. While the administration of drainage laws varies somewhat in the 

 different states, the theory of their operation and object to be secured are 

 the same. Every drainage project which requires combined actions of land 

 owners for the improvement of farm lands should be so administered that 

 when the work is completed each owner will have been remunerated for 

 property taken for the common good and will have shared the expense of 

 the improvement in proportion as his property has been benefited. This is 

 an essential and well-understood provision of all drainage laws, and the 

 theory upon which it rests is pronounced sound by those who have given the 

 matter attention. If correct principles are recognized and sound judgment 

 exercised by those charged with determining the amount of damages and 

 benefits, the result of their work will usually be equitable and commend 

 itself to the sober judgment of those whose property is affected. 



VESTED RIGHTS OF DRAINAGE. 



It can not be denied that there is room for a difference of opinion upon 

 matters connected with values of property and benefits accruing to it from 

 drainage. The same may be said concerning the settlement of any financial 

 questions in which several individuals are interested. There are, however, 

 general principles which underly the apportionment of the cost of drainage 

 which should be given their proper weight in the consideration of every case. 

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