56 
LAWS. 
The water laws of the State bave been discussed heretofore in bul- 
letins issued by the Department of Agriculture more fully than i» 
here possible; therefore the briefest outlines and the statement of the 
fundamental principles only which underlie the law and are the basis 
of our court decisions are given. 
Jn Bulletin No. 58, Office of Experiment Stations, Tinted States 
Department of Agriculture, issued in L899, the laws were given and 
discussed at some length, and in Bulletin No. 60, of the ^ame office, 
issued in L899, the methods and laws governing the acquiring of title 
to water were published. 
The right of appropriation, as stated, is based upon the Territorial 
laws, the act of Congress in L866, and the State constitution, which 
latter declares: "The water of every natural stream not heretofore 
appropriated is hereby declared to he tin 4 property of the public 
and is dedicated to the use of the people of the State, subject to 
appropriation." " 
Theoretically, the fundamental principle of our laws, and one that 
should he the basis of all irrigation laws, is that the water is the prop- 
erty of the people, and the right to its use depends upon its being 
a beneficial application. It does not matter what a person's decree 
may he. nor what he may have diverted, nor for how many years, nor 
what his claims may he. he should have no right to water which he 
does not need and can not use beneficially. 
The next question of importance is whether or not water attache- to 
the land. The decisions of the court, in the absence of any law on the 
subject, control in Colorado. Contrary to general belief, the State 
supreme court held that the water and land were not attached: and 
this decision was the basis of the greater part of litigation, permitting 
as it does the transfer of water and enlargement of ditches to the full 
amount of the decree. 
The right of persons along the borders of a stream to an undimin- 
ished now has been abrogated in Colorado, and by the decision of the 
State supreme court ''the common-law doctrine of riparian rights is 
inapplicable to Colorado." The law abrogating riparian rights is 
slightly modified, however, by allowing such persons a- have enjoyed 
the benefits of water from streams for meadow lands by the natural 
overflow, in case the flow is diminished to such an extent that they 
are denied the benefits of such overflow, to construct a ditch from the 
stream to irrigate the meadow; the priority to date from the time when 
the land was first used as a meadow. 
Priority of appropriation shall give the better right: unappropriated 
waters are subject to appropriation for canal or reservoir purp 
and any excess above that needed for direct irrigation may be stored. 
"Constitution. Art. XVI, Bee. 510. 
