Ætna Mills v. Inhabitants of Brookline

The several petitioners are owners of water powers and mill privileges upon the Charles River. The respondent having accepted St. 1888, c. 131, and in pursuance thereof, on May 20, 1891, by vote declared its purpose to take from the river an additional one million and a half gallons of water daily became liable to pay all damages sustained by any persons in their property by this taking of the waters. The provision for recovery of such damages, when the person sustaining them does not agree with the town, is by reference to St. 1872, c. 343. That statute gives to persons sustaining such…