| OCR Text |
Show ESTABLISHMENT OF THE APPROPRIATION DOCTRINE IN THE WEST 177 and the courts. In some States a board or department of the State government exercises control. In Wyoming, all these functions are vested primarily in State administrative officers. The exclusive procedure for initiating the acquisition of a water right in Wyoming is to apply to the State Engineer for a permit to make the appropriation.81 Adjudications or determinations of existing rights are made by the Board of Control.82 composed of the State Engineer and the water division superintendents,83 all of whom are constitutional officers, from which appeals lie to the courts.84 The distribution of water according to priorities of right is under the control of the organization of division superintendents and district commissioners, headed by the State Engineer.85 The Colorado system provides for judicial or judicially supervised deter- minations of water rights and priorities.86 Responsibility for the administra- tion, distribution, and regulation of waters, subject to such determinations, is placed upon the division engineers, under the general supervision of the State Engineer.87 However, permits to appropriate water are not required.88 If an appropriator desires a determination of his water right and the amount and priority thereof, he shall file an application for such determination with the water clerk.89 Jurisdiction to hear and adjudicate such questions is vested exclusively in the water judges and their designated referees.90 In many of the States, the statutory procedure to appropriate water is held or conceded to be the exclusive method by which an appropriative right may 81Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 41-201 (1957). *2Id § 41-165. *3Id. § 41-154. *4Id. § § 41-193 and 41-126. 8SId. § 41-57; Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 41-64 (Supp. 1964). "Colo. Rev. Stat. Ann. § § 148-21-10 to -23 (Supp. 1969). 81Id. § § 148-21-17 and -34. 88 Prior to 1969, the intending appropriator began his work and then filed a claim with the State Engineer. Colo. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 148-4-1 to -7 (1963). This requirement was important in providing orderly records of water appropriations and was of evidentiary value in establishing a claimant's right, but it was not essential to the validity of the appropriative right. De Hass v. Benesch, 116 Colo. 344, 351-352, 181 Pac. (2d) 453 (1947); Archuleta v. Boulder & Weld County Ditch Co., 118 Colo. 43, 53, 192 Pac. (2d) 891 (1948). In 1969, this claim-filing requirement was repealed. Colo. Laws 1969, ch. 373, § 20. It may be noted that the Colorado constitution provides that "The right to divert the unappropriated waters of any natural stream to beneficial uses shall never be denied." Colo. Const., art. XVI, § 6. 89Colo. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 148-21-18(1) (Supp. 1969). 90Id. § § 148-21-10(1) and (2). This is subject to rights of appeal to higher courts. Id. § 148-21-20(9). The 1969 legislation provided for these special water clerks, water judges, and their designated referees. Such matters were previously handled by regular courts and judicial officers. For further discussions of these and other provisions of the 1969 Colorado "Water Right Determination and Administration Act," see chapters 7, 8, and 15, and the summary for Colorado in the State summaries in the appendix. 450-486 O - 72 - 14 |
