Shafford v. White Bluffs Land & Irrigation Co.

Citations

• 63 Wash. 10
• 114 P. 883
• 1911 Wash. LEXIS 1150

Syllabus

<p>Waters and Water Courses — Irrigation Companies — Regulations. Tbe obligations of an irrigation company in tbe arid district are quasi public, and arbitrary action in the guise of regulations will not be tolerated.-</p> <p>Same — Reasonableness of Regulations. A regulation of an irrigation company providing for an intermittent rather than a constant flow of water cannot be declared unreasonable as a matter of law.</p> <p>Same — Water Contracts — Regulations — Custom — Effect. A water contract permitting an irrigation company to adopt reasonable rules and regulations, is not controlled by a custom in that locality to supply water in a constant rather than an intermittent flow, since the same depends on the irrigator’s necessities and beneficial use.</p> <p>Same. A contract giving an irrigation company the right to make reasonable rules and regulations, where the water was furnished by pumping, cannot be controlled by the prevailing custom among users of a natural flow, so long as the company supplied the amount contracted for.</p> <p>Same — Water Contracts — Mutuality — Construction. A water contract providing for a certain amount of water per second of time for each 160 acres of land, subject to reasonable rules and regulations of the company as to the time and manner of delivery, is mutual and. to be construed in the light of the necessities of the parties, rather than their arbitrary desires; and a regulation providing for an intermittent flow is not unreasonable, as a matter of law, unless it did not give the amount contracted for.</p>