Los Angeles v. Los Angeles Etc. Co.

The plaintiff is a municipal corporation. Its corporate territory is situated on the Los Angeles River, an unnavigable stream which rises in the San Fernando Valley several miles above and northerly of the city and flows southerly until it reaches the northern corporate boundaries of the city. The defendant is the owner in fee of land on and riparian to said river and situated about ten miles above the city. The plaintiff claims, as successor of a Spanish and Mexican pueblo, the prior and paramount ownership of the use of the water of the river from its source to the city and from the surface to bed-rock, so far as the same may be necessary to give an adequate supply of water for the use of its inhabitants, and for municipal and public uses and purposes of plaintiff. Defendant denies that plaintiff has any such asserted ownership and claims that as owner in fee of the said land, and as part and parcel thereof, it has the riparian right to the use of the water of the river as it flows through its land. This action was brought to quiet plaintiff's title and ownership of the use of said water as above stated, and to have it adjudicated that any right which the defendant may have to the use of the water is subordinate and subject to plaintiff's said ownership. The case was tried without a jury, and judgment was rendered for plaintiff as prayed for, and defendant appeals from the judgment. It also appealed from several orders denying certain motions made by defendant; but these appeals do not present any question substantially different from those presented by the appeal from the judgment; and if the judgment should be affirmed, so also should be the orders. *Page 648

The case was submitted on a stipulated statement of facts. The court, however, made a few additional findings, and appellant contends that it was error to make these findings, and that for this reason the judgment should be reversed. The making of these additional findings was unnecessary, and perhaps improper and erroneous; but it does not follow that for this reason the judgment should be reversed. So far as the findings may be considered as findings of fact they do not materially change the facts as stipulated; and if the stipulated facts warrant a judgment it should stand. (Higgins v. San Diego Sav. Bank,120 Cal. 184, [61 P. 943]; McMenomy v. White, 115 Cal. 339, [47 P. 109].)

It is not necessary to recite here in any great detail the facts as stipulated. Indeed, the situation of the city of Los Angeles with respect to the Los Angeles River, and its claim to the use of the water of the river, have been quite fully stated in former opinions of this court and are familiar facts. (VernonIrr. Co. v. Los Angeles, 106 Cal. 237, [39 P. 762]; City of LosAngeles v. Pomeroy, 124 Cal. 597, [57 P. 585].) For the purposes of this appeal it is necessary to state only the following facts: In the year 1781, under Spanish rule, the pueblo of Nuestra Señora Reina de Los Angeles was established, embracing four square leagues of land which is included in and is part of the present city of Los Angeles. This pueblo continued in existence under Spanish and Mexican dominion until after the acquisition of California by the United States in February, 1848, under the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. It is stipulated that "Under the laws of the Kingdom of Spain, said pueblo upon its foundation, by virtue of a grant under such laws, had the paramount right, claimed by the plaintiff in the present case, to use all the water of the river, and such paramount right continued to exist under that government, and the Mexican government, until the acquisition of California by the United States."