Nostdal v. County of Watonwan

In establishing the ditch, the state for convenience delegated to the county a part of its sovereign power. When that had been exercised, the specifications determined, and the cost levied against the benefited property, the drainage rights of the owners of the property so benefited became as well established, according to the ditch specifications, as if nature, when it shaped the terrain, had provided such drainage. Those rights could no more be infringed with impunity than could they be interfered with if nature had established them. The county, in both its sovereign and corporate…