Walbridge v. Robinson
Case Details
- Judge(s)
- Ailshie, Stewart, Sullivan
- Status
- Published
- Procedural Posture
- Appeal from District Court; plaintiff/relator obtained writ of mandate at trial court level; defendant appealing
Related Laws
Outcome
Court granted writ of mandate compelling the state engineer to issue a certificate of completion of diversion works. Defendant appealed.
Excerpt
<p>APPEAL from tbe District Court of tbe Third Judicial District for Ada County. Hon. Carl A. Davis, Judge.</p> <p>Action for writ of mandate to compel tbe state engineer to give notice and issue a certificate of completion of diversion</p> <p>works. Writ granted. Appeal by defendant.</p> <p>Numerous eases bave been tried involving questions of jurisdiction relative to tbe distribution of tbe waters of interstate streams for irrigation purposes. These cases, however, only determined tbe rights of individuals, and in no case has tbe interest of the state in its waters been decided; in fact, tbe supreme court of tbe United States has held that this question cannot be raised by tbe individual, but must be raised by the state itself. (Rickey Land & Cattle Co. v. Miller & Lux, 218 U. S. 258, 31 Sup. Ct. 11, 54 L. ed. 1032; Kansas v. Colorado etc., 206 U. S. 46, 27 Sup. Ct. 655, 51 L. ed. 956.)</p> <p>Although title to things in tbe negative community was never recognized as vesting in the individual, yet tbe right of a state or nation, either as proprietor or by reason of its sovereignty to control the use of things in the negative community for the benefit of its citizens, has become firmly established by the courts. (1 Farnham on Waters and Water Rights, 74, 75; State v. Rodman, 58 Minn. 393, 59 N. W. 1098; Freund, Police Power, p. 447; Commissioners etc. v. Withers, 29 Miss. 21, 64 Am. Dec. 126; Geer v. Conn., 161 U. S. 519, 16 Sup. Ct. 600, 40 L. ed. 793; Hudson County Water Co. v. Me-Garter, 209 U. S. 349, 28 Sup. Ct. 529, 52 L. ed. 828, 14 Ann. Cas. 560.)</p> <p>When Idaho became a state, Congress approved the constitution adopted in the constitutional convention, and thereby passed the title and control of all of the public waters within the state to the state of Idaho, by ratifying sec. 1 of art. 15.</p> <p>That the legislature has always assumed that the state owns its waters is to be gathered from a careful consideration of all the water laws passed since Idaho
What This Ruling Means
This summary was generated to explain the ruling in plain English and is not legal advice.
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