Parker v. Larsen
Parker v. Larsen
Opinion of the Court
— This is an action for damages and an injunction. The court below gave judgment for the plaintiff, and the defendant appeals on the judgment roll. The facts found are, in substance, as follows: The plaintiff and defendant own adjoining'tracts of land in Santa Clara County, the plaintiff’s tract lying north of defendant’s. Both tracts are adapted to and are used for agricultural purposes. They are nearly level, but there is sufficient slope, so that water will flow from the land of defendant to and upon the land of plaintiff. The defendant raises alfalfa on his tract, and in order to do so, it is necessary that the ground be irrigated two or three times during the summer. He has two artesian
During the last two or three years, and two or three times each summer, defendant has irrigated his land in the manner above described, and on each of these occasions the water has accumulated, as above stated, and has slowly percolated beneath the surface, and through the embankment, into the plaintiff’s land, and has saturated the soil to a considerable distance, and to the extent of three acres, which has thereby been made wholly useless for any purpose of ordinary husbandry. And during this period, upon one or more occasions, the water from these wells has flowed over the top of the embankment, and thence upon the surface of the plaintiff’s field. The damage and injury to plaintiff’s land, from these percolations, is one hundred dollars. The defendant, in so running and using said water, and permitting it
Vanclief, C., and Hayne, C., concurred.
The Court. — For the reasons given in the foregoing opinion, the judgment is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- CHARLES PARKER v. PAUL LARSEN
- Cited By
- 35 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Artificial Watercourse — Percolation — Injury to Adjoining Lands — Damages —■ Injunction. — A land-owner who permits the water taken from artesian wells on his lands, and carried through a ditch for the purpose of irrigating his fields, to percolate through the ditch, and to saturate his neighbor’s land, to his injury, when it might have been drained from the ditch, so as probably to prevent such injury, is liable for the damages thereby occasioned, and may be restrained by injunction from continuing the injury. Id. — Distinction between Natural and Artificial Watercourse — Foreign Substance — Maxim. — The rule applicable to the percolation of water from a natural watercourse does not apply to water brought upon the land by artificial means; but in such case the rule applies, that, where one brings a foreign substance on his land, he must take care of it, and not permit it to injure his neighbor, and is subject to the maxim, Sic utcre tuo ut alicnum non Icedas.