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Show THE RIPARIAN RIGHT 15 THE RIPARIAN RIGHT In the following discussions of the riparian right and its exercise, references are made to pronouncements and comments by courts of various Western States, even though in some of them such restrictions on riparianism have been imposed as to render the statements of minor or even perhaps academic importance in the respective jurisdictions. That is, an attempt is made to present the substance of various aspects of what has been-and in some States may still be-an important part of western water rights law as jurists viewed the material when writing their opinions. The reader who wishes to evaluate the pragmatic significance of a particular statement of a court at the time of utterance may find the abstract in the preceding division useful. Accrual of the Right Source of Title to Land Riparian rights relate chiefly to private land.-The law of riparian rights relates chiefly to the rights of proprietors of private lands. It is settled, according to the California courts, that private riparian rights generally do not attach to lands held by the Government until such land has been transmitted to private ownership,59 although as to subsequent parties other than the United States, riparian rights may date from the first steps taken to secure title from the Government.60 This is an equally sound principle in any of the other public-domain States in which the riparian doctrine is recognized.61 Ownership of most of the western lands, with their waters and all other natural resources, was originally in the United States which succeeded in title to such lands of the previous sovereigns, with the exception of Texas, as had not been effectively granted to private grantors by these governments. With respect to Texas, however, on annexation to the United States the Republic of Texas retained for the State all vacant and unappropriated lands within its limits. It is sometimes said that the United States owns riparian rights in lands on the public domain; or that a particular State owns riparian rights in the school lands or other lands granted to it or reserved by it and held in a proprietary capacity. However, governmental ownership, whether Federal or State, goes beyond that of riparian rights in such of its lands as meet the recognized 59McKinley Bros. V; McCauley, 215 Cal. 229, 231, 9 Pac. (2d) 298 (1932);Rindge v. Crags Land Co., 56 Cal. App. 247, 252, 205 Pac. 36 (1922). 60 See "Time of Accrual of Riparian Right," infra. "The Desert Land Act of 1877, 19 Stat. 377, 43 U.S.C. § 321 et seq. (1964), applied specifically to all of the original 17 contiguous Western States except Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and Colorado. An amendment of March 3, 1891, extended the provisions to Colorado. 26 Stat. 1096,1097, 43 U.S.C. § 321 et seq. (1964). |