358 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
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 aman 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. Ifeither 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. 
