LEGAL DEPARTMENT. 597 



as such, and running water, and perhaps the best way to distinguish it 

 IS to ascertain what a running stream is. Where there is a channel or 

 canal which is made by a general contour of the surrounding land from 

 which the water is collected into one channel, it may be natural or 

 artificial, it flows, however, in a definite channel having a bed and sides, 

 and usually discharges itself into some other stream. The water need 

 not flow continuously therein, as there are many large rivers which are 

 sometimes dry, but they have a well-defined channel. The owner of 

 the land has a right to the surface water which runs in no definite 

 channel, and he may prevent its flow into a neighboring stream, thus: 

 If there are two fields adjoining each other, one lower than the other, 

 the owner of the upper field has a right to the water that flows on his 

 land; he need not let it flow off from the same on the land below. 

 The owner of the lower field, however, has no right to erect an embank- 

 ment to stop the water from the upper field flowing upon it, nor has the 

 owner of the upper field a right to divert the flow of water from its 

 natural channel and cause it to make a new channel on the lower 

 ground, nor can he collect into one large stream waters usually flowing 

 off into his neighbor's fields by several streams, and thus increase the 

 rush upon the lower field. The law has always recognized a distinction 

 between the right of the owner to control the surface water which falls 

 or collects on his lands and his right to control water of a natural 

 watercourse; the owner of the land is admitted to have an absolute 

 property in the surface water before it leaves his land and becomes a 

 part of a definite water course and he may appropriate it to his own 

 use or get rid of it in any way possible, provided he does not collect it 

 and interfere with its flow as to injure adjoining owners. 



EMPLOYER AND LABORER. 



There is a difference in some respects between a person employed to 

 work upon a farm or as a domestic servant and a person employed to 

 work in a factory. The laws of the country have regulated the number 

 of hours per day for many kinds of labor, but between the former 

 laborer and the farmer the hours of labor rest wholly upon contract, 

 express or implied. The laborer is bound to render the services and 

 the farmer to pay the price agreed upon or the value thereof, if no 

 arrangement is made as to the price. It is essential that the parties 

 have the legal capacity to make a contract, otherwise the contract 



