Kern Island Irrigating Co. v. City of Bakersfield

Water-Ditch—City Street—Consent op Abutting Owners.—The consent of the owners of lots abutting on a street in a city to the construction and maintenance of a water-ditch in the street is not binding on the municipal authorities.

Id.—Indefinite Grant op Eight op Way—Determination by User— Subsequent Change op Size and Location—Public Highway.— An oral grant by the owner of land of a right of way to make or use a ditch along the same which was indefinite both as to the size and precise location of the ditch, becomes fixed and certain as to its size and location by the taking and using of an existing ditch for the purposes agreed upon. The grant of such right of way did not carry with it the right to subsequently enlarge the old ditch, change its course, or make another ditch upon a new line. Consequently, a new ditch subsequently constructed along the land upon a different line, after the land had been dedicated to and accepted as a public highway, is an unlawful obstruction to such • highway.

Id.—Adverse Possession—Prescriptive Bights in Highway.—The user for a period of eleven years of a ditch unlawfully constructed and maintained in a public highway, without objection from the public authorities, creates no prescriptive right in favor of the owner of the ditch to continue to maintain the same as a ditch along the highway.