358 RESOURCES OF CALIFOKNIA. 



irrigating tilled fields. The first claimant has the prior right, 

 no matter for what industrial purpose he wishes to use the 

 water. Miners have no monopoly of the water in the mineral 

 regions, nor even a prior right. There is no limit to the 

 amount which a man may claim. He may take the largest 

 river in the mountains ; he may take a dozen of them and 

 hold them all. He may not only take all their water, but he 

 may take all the land necessary to use it. He may make res- 

 ervoirs covering hundreds of acres. He may make ditches a 

 hundred miles long. All that is necessary to give him a pos- 

 sessory title to the water and land, is that he should drive 

 stakes along the route of the ditch, post up notices of his inten- 

 tion, and commence work in building the dam and cutting the 

 ditch. However, while the custom of the country would per- 

 mit a man to become the owner of such extensive works, the 

 practical result is, that the large ditches are almost invariably 

 made by companies. 



§ 251. Marriage. — Marriage, by the law of California, is 

 a civil contract, which is complete with the consent of the 

 man over twenty-one years of age, and of the woman over 

 eighteen. No ceremonial form, license, publication of bans, 

 consent of parents, blessing of priest, seal of magistrate, or 

 presence of witness, is necessary to give validity to the con- 

 tract. If either party be under the age mentioned, then the 

 consent of the parent or guardian is necessary. Although the 

 law does not require a ceremony, yet custom does, and the 

 priests and preachers are usually called in to perform it. 

 Divorce may be granted for adultery, habitual intemperance, 

 extreme cruelty, desertion for two years, conviction of a felony, 

 and impotence. There has been much complaint that the law 

 renders divorce too easy, but the general opinion of California 

 is favorable to the law as it is. 



