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Show -135- the waters in such a way as to cause material injury to the interests of another, or to oppose their use by another state unless this causes material injury to itself. This principle of the "equitable apportionment'' of all the benefits of the river system between all the states concerned is clearly not a single problem which can be solved by the formulation of rules applicable to rivers in general; each river has its own problems and needs a system of rules and administration adopted to meet them. The way of advance seems therefore to lie, as Professor Smith suggests, in the constitution of authorities to administer the benefits of particular river systems. Latin American publicists are also in accord with the basic principles of mutual rights and duties co-riparians of a system of international waters. Typical of their views are the remarks of Professor Cardona of Mexico: The internationally of river basins presupposes a combination of rights and duties that are common to the neighboring states.,.. It follows that the legal order that governs this combination of rights and duties affects the exercise of the territorial sovereignty of each state over its own territory. The principle applicable to this order, and one which is amply recognized in international law, is that a state may exercise its rights of territorial sovereignty in the form and to the degree that it deems desirable but on the condition that it does not impair the right of a neighboring state. Professor Cardona1 s conclusion is that international law imposes a ''just distribution of theiuses between the two parties8' on the basis of present and future needs.- 2 The ECE Import summarizes the views of twenty-five publicists of the 19th and 20th centuries, only one of whom, vis., Lauterpacht, is referred to above. The Report finds that only three, or possibly four, of them maintained the view that riparians have unlimited sovereign rights to use at will the waters in their territory. The Report, upon the basis of its stucjy of the various sources of international law, 1. El Regimen Juridico de los Rios Internacionales. 56 Revista de Derecho Intemacional, pp. 24, 26 (La Habana, No. Ill, 1949) 2. pp. 51-68 |
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Original book: [State of Arizona, complainant v. State of California, Palo Verde 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, defendants, United States of America, State of Nevada, State of New Mexico, State of Utah, interveners] : |