Gerrish v. New Market Man. Co.
Superior Court of New Hampshire
Case, for obstructing and diverting the water in a mill stream in Nottingham, and flowing and injuring the plaintiff’s land below. The writ was dated July 26, 1848. The general issue was pleaded.
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Case, for obstructing and diverting the water in a mill stream in Nottingham, and flowing and injuring the plaintiff’s land below. The writ was dated July 26, 1848. The general issue was pleaded. It appeared that the defendants, in 1840, erected a dam across said stream, for the purpose of creating a reservoir, the water from which they used to carry a saw and shingle mill, and also, as occasion might require, to supply their manufacturing establishments at New Market, several miles below said dam. The dam was erected on an old mill site, of which the defendants had become the owners. The…
1Opinion of the CourtWoods, J.
In general, each proprietor of land through which a stream flows, has an equal right to the use of the water in its natural course, without diminution or alteration, and neither has a right to use or obstruct the water to the prejudice of the other proprietors, unless he has acquired a title to some exclusive enjoyment, by an actual appropriation and use of the water during the legal period, or by some other mode of gaining a title.
The principle is, however, subject to this qualification, that each proprietor may use and apply the water, while it runs over his land, to domestic, agricultural,…
2Cases cited4 opinions
- Johns v. StevensSupreme Court of Vermont · 1830
- Davis v. FullerSupreme Court of Vermont · 1840
- Woodman v. TuftsSuperior Court of New Hampshire · 1837
- Allen v. ThrallSupreme Court of Vermont · 1838