Lassen Irrigation Co. v. Long

Appropriation of Water for Public TTse—Consumer Cannot Contract for Preferential Right.—Leavitt v. Lassen Irrigation Company, ante, p. 82, approved, to the effect that the defendant could not by contract acquire any permanent preferential right to the use of water appropriated for public use over any other member of the public entitled to draw his water supply from the same public service corporation.

Id.—Breach of Contract to Pay for Water at Contract Rates— Abrogation of Contract—Liability for Reasonable Value.— The continued refusal of a consumer of water appropriated for public use, claiming a permanent preferential right to the use thereof under a contract to pay for the same, justified the water company supplying the water to consider the contract as abrogated, and suing thereafter (in the absence of a legally established rate) for the reasonable value of the water supplied.