§ 51. — Water users' vested and accrued rights; enumeration of uses; protection of interest; rightsofway for canals and ditches; liability for injury or damage to settlers' possession.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 30USC51]
TITLE 30--MINERAL LANDS AND MINING
CHAPTER 2--MINERAL LANDS AND REGULATIONS IN GENERAL
Sec. 51. Water users' vested and accrued rights; enumeration of
uses; protection of interest; rights-of-way for canals and
ditches; liability for injury or damage to settlers' possession
Whenever, by priority of possession, rights to the use of water for
mining, agricultural, manufacturing, or other purposes have vested and
accrued, and the same are recognized and acknowledged by the local
customs, laws, and the decisions of courts, the possessors and owners of
such vested rights shall be maintained and protected in the same; and
the right-of-way for the construction of ditches and canals for the
purposes herein specified is acknowledged and confirmed; but whenever
any person, in the construction of any ditch or canal, injures or
damages the possession of any settler on the public domain, the party
committing such injury or damage shall be liable to the party injured
for such injury or damage.
(R.S. Sec. 2339.)
Repeals
Provision of this section, ``and the right-of-way for the
construction of ditches and canals for the purposes herein specified
is acknowledged and confirmed; but whenever any person, in the
construction of any ditch or canal, injures or damages the
possession of any settler on the public domain, the party committing
such injury or damage shall be liable to the party injured for such
injury or damage.'' was repealed by Pub. L. 94-579, title VII,
Sec. 706(a), Oct. 21, 1976, 90 Stat. 2793, effective on and after
Oct. 21, 1976, insofar as applicable to the issuance of rights-of-
way over, upon, under, and through the public lands and lands in the
National Forest System.
Codification
R.S. Sec. 2339 derived from act July 26, 1866, ch. 262, Sec. 9, 14
Stat. 253.
Section is also set out as the first par. of section 661 of Title
43, Public Lands.
Savings Provision
Repeal by Pub. L. 94-579, title VII, Sec. 706(a), Oct. 21, 1976, 90
Stat. 2793, insofar as applicable to the issuance of rights-of-way not
to be construed as terminating any valid lease, permit, patent, etc.,
existing on Oct. 21, 1976, see note set out under section 1701 of Title
43, Public Lands.
Submerged Lands Act
Provisions of this section as not amended, modified or repealed by
the Submerged Lands Act, see section 1303 of Title 43, Public Lands.
Section Referred to in Other Sections
This section is referred to in sections 24, 29, 33, 37, 38, 39, 40,
42, 46, 47, 48, 52, 102 of this title; title 16 section 460mm-1.
