PROPERTY IN WATER. XV. 
in the laws of most nations. Law, we are often told, is 
Common Sense. It should be so, at least, in essentials; 
and it is upon the basis of common sense and practical 
requirements, that it is proposed to deal with the subject 
in this paper. It has been asserted, indeed, in one of those 
legal definitions that define nothing, and only lead to use- 
less discussions, that water, like air, is common property, 
and should not be absolutely appropriated by anyone to the 
detriment of the public interest; but it is beside the ques- 
tion to argue about abstract rights: exclusive possession 
is quite enough for all practical purposes. Water in the 
clouds, may be for aught the writer knows, common pro- 
perty, but as soon as it descends as rain and runs off a man’s 
roof into his tank, it becomes just as much that man’s 
private property, as anything else in his possession. The 
rain-water that falls on private land may be impounded 
and utilized in any way the proprietor may deem fit. No- 
body else has any claim to it. Most of the undertakings 
for the water supply of towns and industries in Kurope and 
America have been carried out on this undoubted principle. 
Catchment areas have been purchased for the purpose, 
impounding reservoirs have been constructed, and the water . 
afterwards disposed of like any other commodity. But 
although the landowner may justly claim possession of the 
water lying on his land, he has not the same exclusive right 
to water flowing in a defined channel, through, or by his 
property. In that case he must share his claim to the use 
of the water with all the other proprietors of land along 
the course of the stream, for they have equal rights to 
participate in the benefit. Thus, running water, in a well 
defined watercourse, becomes, not public property, but the 
common property of the riparian owners along its banks. 
This is the basis of the Law of Riparian Rights, which, 
although so troublesome and complicated in some of its 
