Prior appropriation doctrine subsidized industry by letting water be taken free

Evidence

The common-​law rule for water was the so-​called doctrine of riparian rights. Every landowner, in other words, along the banks of a river, had an equal right to take water; no one owner could take so much that the stock was depleted. This made sense in rainy England and in rainy parts of the United States—​the South, East, and Middle West. The West was desert or semi-​desert. Western states, in general, tossed aside the doctrine of riparian rights. What replaced this was the concept of prior appropriation, which meant, more or less, first come, first served. There was never enough water to give an equal shake to every landowner who fronted on a river. The western doctrine “encouraged entrepreneurs to scramble for water, quickly construct works, and apply the asset to the industry of the region.” It “recognized the environmental limitations of the water supply” and “gave certainty to users in terms of title.” But only states that were completely arid signed on to the doctrine completely. California and Texas, with their double climates, had mixed systems of water law, too. As Donald Pisani has reminded us, landscape and climate do not make law; what made law was not rain or lack of rain, but the economic interests of human beings as they struggled for wealth and power in a new environment. The prior appropriation doctrine was also a kind of legal subsidy as well; it allowed water on public lands to be “taken for free.” — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 2135

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Arid western states replaced riparian doctrine with prior appropriation water rights — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 2135; Water rights become exclusive only where scarcity makes access costly — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 65; Progressive economic reform depends on demoting pure property rights to technico-industrial functional necessities — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1154

Broader Connections

• Water rights become exclusive only where scarcity makes access costly #qualifies (0.78) — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 65
• Arid western states replaced riparian doctrine with prior appropriation water rights #expands (0.75) — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 2135
• Progressive economic reform depends on demoting pure property rights to technico-industrial functional necessities #corroborates (0.72) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1154