Collins & A. v. Howard & A.
Supreme Court of New Hampshire
Petition, for an injunction to restrain the defendants from floating logs down the river called the North Branch, which flows through Grantham, Croydon, a part of Newport, and unites with Sugar river at North Newport. The stream is small, and has, for a part of the way, a heavy fall and a very rocky bed.
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Petition, for an injunction to restrain the defendants from floating logs down the river called the North Branch, which flows through Grantham, Croydon, a part of Newport, and unites with Sugar river at North Newport. The stream is small, and has, for a part of the way, a heavy fall and a very rocky bed. No logs were ever floated down past the plaintiffs’ premises until the spring of 1888. The defendants concede that logs cannot be run down the stream except in high water, which lasts from three to five weeks in the spring, and sometimes for a week or so in the fall. Collins owns a dam and…
1Opinion of the CourtSmith, J.
A public easement for floating logs exists in a stream which is capable of being so used. The easement is not founded upon usage, custom, or prescription, nor is it derived from previous enjoyment, but it depends upon the capacity of the stream for trade or business. It exists when the stream is capable of being generally and commonly used for the purposes of commerce, for the floating of vessels, boats, rafts, or logs. Carter v. Thurston, 58 N. H. 104; Thompson v. Androscoggin River Improvement Co., 54 N. H. 545; Brown v. Chadbourne, 31 Me. 9; Ang. Wat., ss. 535-541.
A riparian owner cannot…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Brown v. ChadbourneSupreme Judicial Court of Maine · 1849
3Cited by4 opinions
- Boutwell v. Champlain Realty Co.Supreme Court of Vermont · 1915
- Trullinger v. HoweOregon Supreme Court · 1908
- State v. HutchinsSupreme Court of New Hampshire · 1919
- Manchester v. HodgeSupreme Court of New Hampshire · 1908