Reynolds v. Hosmer

By the Court, Niles, J.: It is not questioned by the plaintiffs that the defendant, as owner of the upper canal between the South Fork of the [208]American River and Long Canon had a right to the use of the waters of the South Fork for the purposes for which the canal was constructed. But it is contended that this admitted right of the defendant was not exclusive and absolute in him, but was shared by the plaintiffs, in some undefined relation, by virtue of their ownership of the lower canal leading from Long Canon to the Grand Reservoir.

This claim is based upon the assumption that the entire canal, from the grand reservoir to the South Fork, was a continuous aqueduct constructed by the same party—the South Fork Canal Company—and in accordance with one original plan; and that, therefore, the right to the use of the waters of the South Fork appertained to the ditch throughout its entire length, and not to a single section or portion of it.

The defendant acquired his title by purchase at a sale under a decree of foreclosure of a mechanic’s lien for labor upon and materials used in the construction of what is termed the upper canal or section.

The plaintiffs are the successors in interest of the South Fork Canal Company, the original projectors and owners of both the upper and lower sections. In the case of South Fork Canal Company v. Gordon (6 Wall. 561), the validity and extent of the lien of Gordon came in question before the Supreme Court of the United States. In that case it was earnestly claimed by Gordon that the canal, including the upper and lower sections, was an entirety, and that the whole was subject to his lien. It was contended by the canal company, with-equal earnestness, that the lien should be restricted to the branch or division of the canal upon which the work was actually done, and not extended over the entire structure. The court adopted the latter view, holding that the two parts of the canal, the upper and lower sections, being constructed by different contractors and at different times, and being fed, _ in part, from different sources, were, in effect, separate and distinct works, and therefore confined the lien of Gordon to the upper section extending from Long Cañón to the South Fork.

Whatever might have been our opinion upon this ques[209]