334 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



Supreme Court Decisions 



Irrigation Cases 



PRIORITIES BETWEEN RIPARIAN PROPKIETORS. 



There is no priority between the rights of riparian pro- 

 prietors to the use of water of a non-navigable stream, but 

 their rights are equal, regardless of location on the stream, or 

 the date of acquiring their title. Williams v. Altnow. Su- 

 preme Court of Oregon. 95 Pacific 200. 



ADJUDICATION APPLIES ABOVE DIVERSION. 



A judgment and decree adjudicating rights and priorities 

 to the use of the waters of a stream carries with it and 

 adjudicates and decrees the rights and priorities to the waters 

 of the tributaries to such stream above the respective places 

 and points of diversion. Josslyn v. Daly. Supreme Court of 

 Idaho. 96 Pacific 568. 



quired by D. from a stranger to the action subsequent to the 

 trial and decree in the action between D. & J. Josslyn v. 

 Daly. Supreme Court of Idaho. 96 Pacific 568. 



IDAHO STATUTE ON MEANS OF DIVERTING WATER. 



Rev. St. Idaho 1887, sec. 3184, which provides that owners 

 of lands adjacent to a stream shall "have the right to place in 

 the channel of, or on the banks or margin of, the same rams 

 or other machines for the purpose of raising the waters 

 thereof to a lev^l above the banks requisite for the flow 

 thereof to and upon such adjacent lands," gives a mere 

 license to use an appropriate method for raising the water, 

 but the particular method or means adopted does not attach 

 as an appurtenance to the appropriation of the water as 

 against other appropriators from the same stream. Schodde 

 v. Twin Falls Land & Water Co. Circuit Court of Appeals, 

 Ninth Circuit. 161 Federal 43. 



WATER RIGHT TAXABLE AS PERSONAL PROPERTY. 



A "water right" is the legal right to the use of any un- 

 appropriated water of any natural stream, water course, or 



An Artesian Well in the Pecos Valley, New Mexico. 



PRIORITY OF WATER RIGHTS. 



Where the water rights under which plaintiffs claimed 

 title were located prior to any settlement on the lands by 

 defendant's grantors, plaintiffs were entitled to priority, both 

 under Rev. St. Sees. 2339, 2340 (U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 

 1437), securing and preserving such priority of location, 

 and under the custom in force in the territory. Driskill v. 

 Rebbe. Supreme Court of South Dakota. 117 Northwest- 

 ern 135. 



IRRIGATION DECREE NOT BINDING ON STRANGER TO ACTION. 



A decree in an action between D. and J., adjudicating 

 the respective rights and priorities of the parties to the 

 waters of a certain stream for the irrigation of their re- 

 spective ranches then owned and occupied by them, is not 

 res adjudicata or binding upon D. as to his right to use 

 certain of the waters of the same stream upon another tract 

 of land as appurtenant thereto, which is purchased and ac- 



source of supply, and exists only in contemplation of law, 

 and is for purposes of taxation "personal property," within 

 Const., art. 12, sec. 17, and Pol. Code, 1895, sees. 16, 3680, de- 

 fining "property" as including money, franchises, and other 

 things capable of private ownership, and defining "real estate" 

 as including the possession or ownership of land, mines, 

 minerals, and quarries, and "improvements" as including all 

 buildings, structures, etc., and "personal property" as includ- 

 ing everything which is the subject of ownership, not included 

 within the real estate or improvements, so that under section 

 3716, providing that the personal property and franchises 

 of water companies must be assessed in the district where 

 the principal works are located, a water company owning a 

 water right without the limits of a school district and 

 conveying water by pipe lines into the district, where it is 

 distributed to the inhabitants thereof, is properly assessed 

 in the district; that being the place of business and principal 

 works of the company. Helena Waterworks Co. V. Settles, 

 Treasurer. Supreme Court of Montana. 95 Pacific 838. 



