sovereign of the country, and not exclusively to the owners of the lands bordering the streams, the sovereign authority distributing the usufruct of these waters in such a manner as that all fruitful soil might receive its equitable share, to the end that the earth might be made to produce food sufficient for the inhabitants thereof. Since all law springs from the requirements of man, the more universal and urgent the need of the law the greater will be the attention given to, and the labor bestowed in the framing thereof. For this reason we find that the Spanish laws of the Indies, and the regulations established in Spanish-America, with respect to the use of water, are, like the Spanish mining laws, far more perfect than are the common laws of England with regard to the same matters, since they are the result of centuries of such experience as springs from necessity. From the foregoing it is seen what were the laws, usages, and customs of the Spanish and Mexican Government, with regard to the use of water for purposes of irrigation. It is also shown that the Act of Congress of March 3, 1851, declares that the Commissioners appointed under said Act, in determining the rights of claimants under the Government, shall be governed by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo; the law of nations; the laws. usages, and customs of the Government from which the claim is derived; the principles of equity and decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States-and that the Supreme Court says, in the Fremont case, that “the laws of these territories under which titles were claimed were never treated by the Court; as foreign laws, and, also, that the Court was bound judicially to notice them as much as the laws of a State or Union;" and that they constitute what may be called the common or unwritten law of every civilized country. It is manifest, therefore, that under the foregoing provisions and decisions, all water rights which had accrued to lands granted by the governments of Spain and Mexico are bound to be protected by the laws and the Courts of the United States. And since it has been shown, that wherever lands were used for agricultural purposes under the former governments, these laws were enforced, it is but fair to presume that if the same agricultural habits and customs had prevailed among the inhabitants of California under the former goyernment, these laws or usages would have been observed in the rural districts of the country the same as in the pueblo establishments, in which it was the custom of the inhabitants of the country to reside, as has been shown. If it be determined by the Courts of California that the wise and judicious laws of the former governments of the country relative to the use of water are only applicable to rights which accrued under grants given by said governments, and do not affect those portions of the State in which at the date of the treaty of cession no grants had been made, and that, therefore, these portions with respect to riparian rights are now to be controlled by the principles of the common law, it is manifest that for the well being and prosperity of the agricultural interests of the country the law be so modified as to give such encouragement and protection to agriculture as was given by the laws of the former governments of the country, or such as may be better fitted to our civilization and modes of life and progressive knowledge in agriculture. Respectfully submitted. THEO. REICHERT, Surveyor-General and Register State Land Office. STATEMENT Of Expenditures, other than Salaries, for the thirty-eighth and thirty-ninth fiscal years, commencing July 1, 1886, and ending June 30, 1888. FOR WHAT PURPOSE EXPENDED. Amount of Appropriation. Purchase of and Copying Maps. Appropriation for thirty-eighth and thirty-ninth fiscal years. $1,400 00 Amount expended, thirty-ninth fiscal year. $398 50 Balance unexpended of thirty-eighth and thirty-ninth fiscal years. Traveling Expenses of Surveyor-General and Attorney-General. Appropriation for thirty-eighth and thirty-ninth fiscal years. $1,000 00 Amount expended, thirty-ninth fiscal year. Balance unexpended of thirty-eighth and thirty-ninth fiscal years $1,000 00 $1,000 00 $1,000 00 Postage and Expressage, Surveyor-General's Office. Appropriation for thirty eighth and thirty-ninth fiscal years. $600 00 Amount expended, thirty-eighth fiscal year.. $276 01 Amount expended, thirty-ninth fiscal year. 300 00 Balance unexpended of thirty-eighth and thirty-ninth fiscal years.. Contingent Expenses. Appropriation for thirty-eighth and thirty-ninth fiscal years. Amount expended, thirty-ninth fiscal year $200 00 $78 77 100 00 Balance unexpended of thirty-eighth and thirty-ninth fiscal years. Clerks in office of Surveyor-General and Register of State Land Office $6,000 00 4,800 00 9,600 00 Porter 600 00 $21,000 00 Corrected Report of Spanish and Mexican Grants in California, COMPLETE TO FEBRUARY 25, 1886. PREPARED BY STATE SURVEYOR-GENERAL. Published as Supplement to Official Report of 1886-88. 24 |