Mayor v. Commissioners of Spring Garden
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Feb. 3 — 8. This was an appeal from a decree made on the equity side of this court by the late Mr. Justice Kennedy, at Nisi Frius.
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Feb. 3 — 8. This was an appeal from a decree made on the equity side of this court by the late Mr. Justice Kennedy, at Nisi Frius. The bill was filed on the 15th March, 1844, by the Corporation of the City of Philadelphia, against the Corporation of Spring Garden and the Northern Liberties, and certain individuals who, under the direction of those corporations, were erecting the works complained of in the bill, (a) The bill pet forth that Robert Kennedy was authorized by the act of lSOrto erect a mill-race near the Falls of Schuylkill, and draw so much water from the river as might be…
1Opinion of the CourtGibson, C. J.
Notwithstanding the range which the argument has taken, the ground of this controversy lies in a narrow space. Instead of depending on general or constitutional law, the question before us depends on the interpretation of a short and isolated section of a statute; but the quotations from the civilians and from Lord Hale bear strongly upon it. They establish that the use of water, flowing in its natural channel, like the use of heat, light, or air, has been held by every civilized nation, from the earliest times, to be common' by the law of nature, and not merely public, like the use of a…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Pastorius v. FisherSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1828
- Clyde v. ClydeSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1791
3Cited by11 opinions
- Palmer Water Co. v. Lehighton Water Supply Co.Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1924
- Citizens Electric Co. v. Susquehanna Boom Co.Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1921
- Philadelphia v. Philadelphia Suburban Water Co.Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1932
- Eastern Pennsylvania Power Co. v. Lehigh Coal & Navigation Co.Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1914
- Elwood v. City of New YorkDistrict Court, S.D. New York · 1978
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