Crabtree v. Baker
Supreme Court of Alabama
Appeal from Mobile Chancery Court. Heard before Hon. Jno. A. Fostek. This was a bill in equity, exhibited by A. P. Baker and Martin Costello against Lewis Crabtree, and filed on 16th February, 1884. Its purpose and its material averments, as well as the facts disclosed by the record, necessary to this report, are stated in the opinion.
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Appeal from Mobile Chancery Court. Heard before Hon. Jno. A. Fostek. This was a bill in equity, exhibited by A. P. Baker and Martin Costello against Lewis Crabtree, and filed on 16th February, 1884. Its purpose and its material averments, as well as the facts disclosed by the record, necessary to this report, are stated in the opinion. On filing the bill, an injunction was granted, enjoining the defendant from darning a certain ditch described in the bill, “ or in any wise obstructing the flow of water therethrough, and not only from creating, but from permitting any dam or obstruction of…
1Opinion of the Court
BBICIvELL,' O. J.
It is well settled by a uniform course of decisions, English and American, that the proprietors of lands, over or through which “a stream of water usually flows in a definite channel, having a bed, sides or banks, and usually discharging itself into some other stream or body of water,” have a clear legal right, not derived from, or dependent upon prescription or long continued use, but a right as matter of law and as an incident of the ownership of the land, to the use of the water flowing in the stream, as it is accustomed to flow, without detrimental diminution or…
2Cases cited10 opinions
- Livingston v. McDonaldSupreme Court of Iowa · 1866
- Hughes v. AndersonSupreme Court of Alabama · 1880
- Nininger v. NorwoodSupreme Court of Alabama · 1882
- Polly v. McCallSupreme Court of Alabama · 1860
- Stein v. BurdenSupreme Court of Alabama · 1854
5 more not listed; retrieve them via the Exa API.
3Cited by31 opinions
- Savannah, Americus & Montgomery Railway v. BufordSupreme Court of Alabama · 1894
- Chicago, R. I. & P. Ry. Co. v. JohnsonSupreme Court of Oklahoma · 1910
- Southern Railway Co. v. LewisSupreme Court of Alabama · 1910
- Drake v. Lady Ensley Coal, Iron & Railway Co.Supreme Court of Alabama · 1893
- Riley v. WilkinsonSupreme Court of Alabama · 1945
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