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Show 504 ADJUDICATION OF WATER RIGHTS IN WATERCOURSES under adjudication is located. However, if the adjudicated waters are located in three or more counties and ten or more affected parties who appeared in the proceedings petition the Commission, the Commission shall file the action in a convenient district court of a judicial district which is not within the river basin of the stream or segment thereof under adjudication.348 Jurisdiction General The jurisdiction of the courts in settling water controversies and adjudicat- ing rights to use water has been exercised in the Western States for more than a century. This jurisdiction includes power not only to ascertain and determine the several rights in litigation, but also to regulate their exercise. Statutory adjudication proceedings often may be more comprehensive than ordinary civil actions in a number of respects, such as their geographic scope. But the jurisdiction of the court or administrative agency that determines water rights may be confined to the subject matter covered by the statute. If the determination is made by an administrative agency, injunctive relief or damages is not authorized as a part of such adjudication proceedings. Even if the court takes part in the adjudication, it perhaps may not be authorized to grant injunctive relief or damages as a part of such adjudication proceedings.349 But, statutory procedures generally do not exclude other forms of actions. 35° In an early case the California Supreme Court stated, "There is no doubt of the power of a court of equity to ascertain and determine the extent of the rights of property in water, flowing in a natural watercourse, acquired by persons who hold and are entitled to them * * *."3S1 And in a case decided in 1940, the Washington Supreme Court said, "We are clearly of the opinion that, under the water code, the court has jurisdiction to adjudicate the amount of water to which all claimants on the stream being adjudicated are entitled, and the priorities as between such claimants * * *."352 Relation to Actions of Other Types (1) Contempt. The Montana Supreme Court had occasion to declare that title to a water right canrot be tried in a contempt proceeding, but must be determined in a civil action to which others interested may be made parties.353 348Tex. Rev. Civ. Stat. Ann. art. 7542a, § 5(g) (Supp. 1970). 349 Such matters are discussed earlier under "Special Statutory Adjudication Procedures- Comprehensiveness of Statutory Adjudication Proceedings." 350 See "Special Statutory Adjudication Procedures-Statutory Procedures Generally Not Exclusive," supra. 351Frey v. Lowden, 70 Cal. 550, 551-552, 11 Pac. 838 (1886). 352 Thompson v. Short, 6 Wash. (2d) 71, 88, 106 Pac. (2d) 720 (1940). 353State ex rel. Zosel v. District Ct., 56 Mont. 578, 581, 185 Pac. 1112 (1919). |