Italian Irrigation. 
203 
doubled, but an excess of one-fourth, one-seventh, and one-eighth 
have been at different times sanctioned in Lombardj ; while the 
627th Article of the modern Code of Sardinia assigns " the 
estimated value of the land to be occupied, without deducting' 
the land-tax or any other burdens which may be inherent in the 
soil, together with one-fifth of the said value in excess, and also 
compensation for immediate damages including those due to the 
division of the estate into two or more parts, or any other dete- 
rioration which may follow the intersection of the land." 
From its first origin this right of passage was held to be a 
simple servitude on the land, the ownership remaining with the 
original landlord, who continued to pay the land-tax and other 
burdens. The nature of such servitudes is very clearly stated 
in the 7th chapter of the Austrian Civil Code, as quoted by 
Colonel Baird Smith. 
In Lombardy the control of a great body of water has practi- 
cally passed out of the hands of Government, so far as the details 
of management are concerned. In early days the municipal 
government always resolutely contested with their foreign masters, 
French or Spanish, this branch of administration ; and in times 
when rulers were poor, wealthy corporations (such as monasteries 
or hospitals), or powerful chieftains, by payment or grant secured 
to themselves the right to employ large volumes of water, and were 
thus relieved from all harassing interference in applying them to 
their own use, or in disposing of them to others. 
This has been the origin of very powerful associations, w hicli 
at times have set the Government at defiance, and by their sel- 
fishness caused " most serious obstacles to the development of 
irrigation." But of late Government has claimed and exercised a 
power of moderating their action, on the principle that sucb 
works were sanctioned for the general good of the community, 
an end which alone could justify the partial violation of the rights 
of private property then permitted. Companies, therefore, are not 
allowed to raise their prices, or divert their supplies in an arbitrary 
manner. Under a right called the diritto d' insistenza, acknow- 
ledged by legislative tribunals, an irrigator has a legal claim to 
the continuance of a supply of water, long enjoyed, on the faith 
of which supply expense has been incurred ; and a change in the 
rate of payment must be referred to arbitrators nominated by both 
parties. 
One special abuse to which the exercise of the right of passage 
is exposed, is, when the excavation of a very trifling spring is 
made a pretext for making a channel near to an older channel, 
or across irrigated fields with a view of drawing an additional 
supply from these sources. To guard against this, the claimant 
must show that his own supply is adequate for the purpose he 
contemplates. 
