Bottoms & Powell v. Brewer & Brewer
Supreme Court of Alabama
Ahpeal from Circuit Court of Dale. Tried before Hon. H. D. Clayton. Appellees being owners of both banks of an unnavigable stream in Dale county,'known as “Cotton creek,’’ made application to the probate judge for permission to raise a dam, owned by them, nine feet, for the purpose of supplying water for “ a grist mill and cotton gin.”
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Ahpeal from Circuit Court of Dale. Tried before Hon. H. D. Clayton. Appellees being owners of both banks of an unnavigable stream in Dale county,'known as “Cotton creek,’’ made application to the probate judge for permission to raise a dam, owned by them, nine feet, for the purpose of supplying water for “ a grist mill and cotton gin.” The jury, in their inquest, ascertained that certain lands belonging to Bottoms & Powell would be overflowed by the raising of the dam, and assessed the damages at one dollar per acre. Bottoms & Powell appealed to the circuit court, and judgment adverse to them…
1Opinion of the CourtBrickell, C. J.
The jurisdiction conferred on the probate judge to authorize the erection of mills and the construction of dams on water courses, is special and limited, wholly of statutory origin. When the proceedings are questioned on error, intendments or inferences to support them are not made, the record must affirmatively show every fact necessary to sustain the jurisdiction. —Owen v. Jordan, 27 Ala. 608; Martin v. Rushton, 42 Ala. 289. At common law every riparian proprietor may erect a mill on a stream running through his lands. This right he could not exercise so as to affect the equal rights of…
2Cases cited4 opinions
- Blackburn v. BakerSupreme Court of Alabama · 1838
- Hendricks v. JohnsonSupreme Court of Alabama · 1838
- Martin v. RushtonSupreme Court of Alabama · 1868
- Owen v. JordanSupreme Court of Alabama · 1855
3Cited by5 opinions
- Connecticut College v. CalvertSupreme Court of Connecticut · 1913
- McCulley v. CunninghamSupreme Court of Alabama · 1893
- Great Western Natural Gas & Oil Co. v. HawkinsIndiana Court of Appeals · 1903
- Town of Flat Creek v. Alabama By-Products Corp.Supreme Court of Alabama · 1944
- Leath v. CobiaSupreme Court of Alabama · 1912