State v. Valmont Plantations

POPE, Justice.

This is a class action to determine whether, in the absence of specific grants of irrigation waters, Spanish and Mexican land grants along the Lower Rio Grande have appurtenant riparian irrigation rights. Broadly stated, it is a suit between appropriators and riparians. The' State and numerous water districts assert their rights in the former category; owners of lands out of the original grants assert rights similar to those commonly called riparian rights. Both groups have appealed from the judgment. The trial court concluded that the laws of Spain when the grants were made,…