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Show 207 charge of 50 cents per acre-foot, it does not oblige Nevada to take any water. Such an agreement might fail for lack of consideration under the principles governing ordinary private contracts. The Restatement of Contracts illustrates the point in Section 79, illustration 3: "A offers to deliver to B at $2 a bushel as many bushels of wheat, not exceeding 5,000, as B may choose to order within the next thirty days. B accepts, agreeing to buy at that price as much as he shall order of A within the specified time. B's acceptance involves no promise by him and is not sufficient consideration." If the Restatement requirements were to apply to the contracts made by the Secretary, many, if not all of them, would fail. The answer then to the California contention is that Section 5 water delivery contracts are not contracts in the ordinary sense. They are arrangements whereby the Secretary, acting for the United States, consents to the release of water from his custody. The contracts set the terms upon which the Secretary will release the water. The Secretary is bound by those terms, as are the contractees, not because of the legal chemistry of offer, acceptance and consideration, but because they are part of the statutory scheme provided for in the Boulder Canyon Project Act. Hence, Article 7(1) does not render the Arizona contract nugatory, any more than failure of consideration destroys the Imperial Irrigation District contract or the Nevada contract. I hold that the Arizona contract is valid, except for a provision in Article 7(d) which is discussed hereafter at pages 237-247. 2. The California Contracts. There is no water delivery contract between the United States and the State of Cali- |
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Original Report: State of Arizona, complainant v. State of California, Palo Verde Irrigation District, Imperial Irrigation District, Coachella Valley County Water District, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, City of Los Angeles, California, City of San Diego, California, and County of San Diego, California |