Van Lear v. Eisele

Citations

• 126 F. 823
• 1903 U.S. App. LEXIS 5207

Syllabus

<p>1. Public Lands — Hot Springs Reservation — Power to Regulate Use op Waters.</p> <p>The United States, being the absolute owner of the Arkansas Hot Springs, has the same power that a private owner would have to exclude the public from the use of the waters, or to prescribe the terms and conditions on which they may be used; and regulations in regard to such use adopted or authorized by Congress cannot be interfered with by the courts on the ground that they are unreasonable and oppressive.</p> <p>3. Same — Delegation op Power bt Congress.</p> <p>Congress may lawfully delegate the power to make such regulations to the Secretary of the Interior, but any exercise of such power by him must rest upon some statute delegating it either expressly or by necessary implication.</p> <p>3 Same — Regulations by Secretary op Interior — Validity.</p> <p>By Act March 3, 1891, c. 533, 26 Stat. 843, relating to the Arkansas Hot Springs Reservation, which by section 3 vests in the Secretary of the Interior power to make regulations to prevent the waste of water by lessees, and, generally, power to “make all necessary rules and regulations as to said bath houses and the service therein as shall be deemed best for the public interest,” it was designed to provide for supplementing the general legislation of Congress by such specific regulations as may be necessary to carry out the general purpose of the government to preserve the property, and at the same time to give the public the opportunity to use the waters under proper and reasonable restrictions; and regulations promulgated by the Secretary thereunder in the exercise of his judgment and discretion, if reasonably adapted to such purpose, cannot be interfered with by the courts. But such provision does not confer authority to make rules 9 and 10, promulgated June 6, 1903, .which provide that no bathhouse supplied with water from the springs shall permit any person to bathe therein “who is under medical treatment,” unless such pers