Huron Waterworks Co. v. City of Huron

Citations

• 7 S.D. 9
• 30 L.R.A. 848
• 62 N.W. 975
• 1895 S.D. LEXIS 28

Syllabus

<p>1. The waterworks of a city, constructed under a power conferred upon the city by its charter “to construct and maintain waterworks” for protection against fires and for furnishing the inhabitants thereof with a supply of pure water for domestic purposes, and constructed and maintained at the expense of the inhabitants of such city, are held as the property of ' the municipal corporation, for public use, and charged with a public trust, of which the inhabitants of such city are the beneficiaries.</p> <p>2..u The power to construct a waterworks system for a city is not a necessary incident of its incorporation, but must, like all its other powers, be derived directly from the legislature of the state; and the power “to construct and maintain” such a system implies a duty of the municipality, through its corporate authorities, to maintain and preserve possession for the benefit of the public.</p> <p>3. When a municipality is vested by its charter with power to construct and maintain a system of waterworks at the public expense and for the public use, and accepts such charter, and proceeds to exercise this authority in the manner designated, by the construction and maintenance of such waterworks at the expense of the citizens of the municipality, the waterworks so constructed and maintained a.re clothed with a public trust and are devoted to a public use.</p> <p>4. The waterworks of a cit3r, constructed and maintained by the municipality at the expense of its citizens and for the public use, being held by such municipality charged with a public trust, such trust, and the duty of the municipality under it, cannot be discharged and devolved upon another, by a sale by the city’s common council; without legislative authority, of such waterworks, arid the right and duty of the city to maintain and use them in execution of such public trust.</p> <p>5. Power was conferred upon the ci'ty of Huron, by its charter, “to construct and maintain waterworks.” Said city accepted th