West Pueblo Ditch & Reservoir Co. v. Bessemer Irrigating Ditch Co.

The defendant in error was plaintiff below and obtained a decree correcting a previous decree which adjudicated the water rights, in Water District No. 14. The error corrected was that while the referee’s report and the findings of the decree itself dated the priority of the plaintiff in error December 17, 1887, the decree purported to adjudicate to the ditch of the plaintiff in error a priority of December 17, 1877. The decree now before us corrects this error, so that the priority is adjudicated as of the year 1887.

Counsel for plaintiff in error concedes the elementary proposition that a…