Bliss v. Johnson

Citations

• 76 Cal. 597
• 18 P. 785
• 1888 Cal. LEXIS 944

Syllabus

<p>Evidence—Photographic Views — Error without Prejudice. —Photographic views are admissible as original evidence respecting the description of the premises in controversy; hut error in excluding them is without prejudice, when there is sufficient other evidence as to the topography involved in the inquiry.</p> <p>Statute of Limitations—Appeal—Findings. — The defense of the statute of limitations is not available on appeal, when the court below finds the facts against the defendant.</p> <p>Prescription—Obstruction of Watercourse.—A prescriptive right to obstruct a watercourse by means of a dam cannot he acquired by the owner of land merely through the action of water companies who conduct other water across his land with his consent for their own benefit, upon condition that they build the dam to prevent the water thus conducted from overflowing his land below. Such dam, being indispensable to the conduct of the water to the point of user, cannot be claimed by the owner of the land. When destroyed, he has no right to rebuild it so as to obstruct the natural watercourse.</p> <p>Riparian Rights. — The owner of land on a natural watercourse has the right to the usual flow of the water without obstruction, and an owner above cannot, in protecting his own land from injury, cut off the water of the stream from flowing to the land of the owner below, by means of a dam. He must protect his land by embankments or levees on the side of the stream, without interfering with the flow of water in the channel.</p>