M'Calmont v. Whitaker
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
EXCEPTIONS TO THE REPORT OF REFEREES. The plaintiff was the owner of a tract of land, mill and water power on Taeoney Creek, and the defendant was the owner of a tract of land, mill and water power below the plaintiff’s on the same creek.
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EXCEPTIONS TO THE REPORT OF REFEREES. The plaintiff was the owner of a tract of land, mill and water power on Taeoney Creek, and the defendant was the owner of a tract of land, mill and water power below the plaintiff’s on the same creek. The plaintiff complained of being injured by the erection of the defendant’s dam, whereby the water was backed upon the plaintiff’s land, and it was referred to referees under the Act of 1705, to decide whether the defendant’s dam should be lowered, and to what extent, and what damage the plaintiff had sustained, if any, with power to award conditional…
1Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
Gibson, C. J.
The water power to which a riparian owner is entitled, consists of the fall in the stream when in its natural state, as it passes through his land, or along the boundary of it, or in other words, it consists of the difference of level between the surface where the stream first touches his land, and the surface where it leaves it. This natural power is as much the subject of property as is the land itself, of which it is an accident; and it may, in the same way, be occupied in whole, or in part, or not at all, without endangering the right,…
2Cited by17 opinions
- Harry Brandt v. Vulcan, Inc.Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit · 1994
- Rhodes v. WhiteheadTexas Supreme Court · 1863
- United States v. ToledoCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit · 2014
- Stein v. BurdenSupreme Court of Alabama · 1856
- Van Hoesen v. CoventryNew York Supreme Court · 1851
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