Lambert v. Alcorn

Citations

• 144 Ill. 313
• 21 L.R.A. 611

Syllabus

<p>1. Drainage — into any natural water-course. Under section 4 of the act of 1885, relating to drainage, the land owner may drain his land in the course of natural drainage and discharge the water into any natural water-course, or into any natural depression, whereby the water will be carried into some natural water-course.</p> <p>2. Same — rights of owner of dominant heritage. The owner of a higher tract of land has the right to have the surface water falling or naturally coming on his premises by rains or melting snows pass off through the natural drains, upon or over the lower or servient lands next adjoining; and the owner of the dominant heritage has the right by ditches and drains to drain his own land into the channel provided by nature, even if the quantity of water in that way thrown upon the next adjoining lower lands is thereby increased.</p> <p>3. Water-course — defined. If the conformation of the land is such as to give to the surface water flowing from one tract to the other a fixed and determinate course, so as to uniformly discharge it upon the servient tract at a fixed and definite point, the course thus uniformly followed by the water in its flow is a water-course within the meaning of the rule applicable to that subject.</p> <p>4. But such water-course can exist only where there is a ravine, swale or depression of greater or less depth, and extending from one tract to the other, and so situated as to gather the surface water falling upon the dominant tract, and to conduct it along a defined course to a definite point of discharge upon the servient tract.</p> <p>5. It is not important that the force of the water flowing from one tract to the other has not been sufficient to wear out a channel or canal having definite and well marked sides or banks. That depends upon the nature of the soil and the force and rapidity of the flow of the water. If the surface water, in fact, uniformly and habitually flows off over a given course, having reasonable lim