2i4 Cleansing of Water-courses. [July, 



A deputation from the Central and Associated Chambers of 



Agriculture waited on the President of the Board of Agriculture 



and Fisheries early in the present year for 



Cleansing" of t h e p Urp0 se of drawing the attention of the 

 Watercourses. 



Board to the damage stated to be caused 

 by the neglect of certain occupiers of land to keep clean the 

 channels of water-courses and streams running through their 

 land. The deputation suggested that the law which deals with 

 this subject was very little known, and that it might be useful 

 if a short summary of the legal position could be published in 

 this Joitrnal. 



For mere omission a man is not, generally speaking, answer- 

 able by law ; and accordingly, at common law, the occupier of 

 land through which a water-course runs is not, as a rule, under 

 any obligation to neighbours whose lands drain into that water- 

 course to prevent or remove any obstruction of the outfall due 

 to merely natural causes (such as silting up of the channel or 

 growth of weeds), and not caused by any action on his part, 

 though, in exceptional cases, e.g., under an inclosure award, 

 such an obligation may sometimes exist. 



• A statutory remedy is, however, provided by the Land 

 Drainage Act, 1847 ( IO & 11 Vict., c. 38), irrespective of any 

 existing legal obligation on the part of the occupier of the land ; 

 but the statutory duty imposed by this Act arises only on notice 

 given by the person injured, and the Act does not create any 

 liability in damages for the injury caused by the occupier's 

 neglect. 



Section 14 of the Act enacts that where, by the neglect of any 

 occupier to maintain or join in maintaining the banks, or to 

 cleanse and scour or join in cleansing and scouring the channels 

 of existing drains, streams, or water-courses lying in or bounding 

 the lands of such occupier, injury is caused to any other land, 

 the proprietor or occupier of any land so injured may serve a 

 notice on the neglecting occupier requiring him to maintain the 

 banks or cleanse or scour the channels in question. If he 

 neglects so to do, the occupier of the land injured may, after 

 one calendar month from the service of the notice, carry out the 

 necessary work. The cost of the same or a just proportion 



