WATER STORAGE ON SWEETWATER AND SAN JACINTO RIVERS. 383 



irrigated, and also enter into further stipulations relinquishing all right and benefit 

 after two j-ears, under section 552 of the code of civil procedure. 



The defense of the corporation was that the water had been furnished under a 

 contract dated March 26, 1892, which had expired, the term having been for five 

 years, and that such contract contained a proviso bj' which Shai-pe had expressh' 

 waived and relinquished all right and benefit under section 552 of the code of civil 

 procedure, after five-j'ear term of his contract, and had also stipulated that all dutj', 

 liability, and obligation of the company to furnish water to his tract of land should, 

 at the end of five 3'ears, cease as absoluteh^ as if the contract had never been made. 



The court granted an injunction against the companj- restraining it " from shut- 

 ting off the flow and supph' of water from said company's water system from the 

 petitioner's land described, and from interfering with the use and flow of said supply 

 of water for irrigation of the same so long as the petitioner shall pay the legalty 

 established rates therefor." 



This decision was aflirmed by the United States circuit court of appeals for the 

 ninth circuit, the decree of which court was final. This case illustrates the danger 

 that ma}- lie to a water company in making a temporarj- contract for the delivery of 

 water for a limited time. Sharpe's land was located in the Otay Valley quite a dis- 

 tance beyond the limits of the district supplied with distributing pipes by the San 

 Diego Land and Town Companj'. He expected to get his permanent supph- of water 

 from Lower Otay Reservoir, or from another water sj-stem whose works were sup- 

 posed to be under construction; but for temporary- purposes, and to get his trees 

 started before the new svstem of irrigation could be finished, he pej'suaded the man- 

 ager of the San Diego Land and Town Compan\- to permit him to connect with the 

 Sweetwater system temporarih-, agreeing to disconnect at the end of.five }'ears. 

 This was done under protest of the engineer of the system, as the connection was 

 one exceedingly difficult to maintain, and involving extra expense in getting a water 

 supplj' to the lands when the supply in the resenoir became low. As the other 

 sj'stems were never completed Sharpe could not get water anywhere else, and at 

 the expiration of the time appealed to the courts to save him from the consequences 

 of his own express contract, and prevent him from being deprived of water, which 

 they did. 



THE HALE WATEB-RIGHT CASE. 



Pending the case of Lanning v. Osborne in the United States circuit court, 

 before Judge Ross, and after he had rendered an opinion in the progress of that 

 cause, holding that a corporation could make no contracts for sale of water rights, 

 one G. W. Hale, having paid the San Diego Land and Town Company $100 per acre 

 on 15 acres of land under the compan^-'s system for a water right, in order that he 

 might procure water for the irrigation of the same, and having taken from the 

 corporation a contract, under which they agreed to refund to him the $1,500 paid if 

 it was decided that the corporation could not legally sell or exact pay for a water 

 right, assigned his claim for rebate to the Bank of National Citj-. Subsequently the 

 bank brought suit against the compan}% before Judge Ross in the United States 

 circuit court, for the refunding of this money, with interest, and, after trial, 

 recovered judgment, which was paid. The case was not appealed. 



