Legal Term Dictionary

n. A body of constables on duty on any particular night

n. A body of constables on duty on any particular night Less...

"Watch" denotes keeping guard during the night; "ward," by day.

"Watch" denotes keeping guard during the night; "ward," by day. Less...

An officer in many cities and towns, whose duty it is to watch during the night and take care of the property of the inhabitants.

An officer in many cities and towns, whose duty it is to watch during the night and take care of the property of the inhabitants. Less...

In the language of brokers, adding to the capital stock of a corporation by the issue of new stock, without increasing the real value represented by the capital.

In the language of brokers, adding to the capital stock of a corporation by the issue of new stock, without increasing the real value represented by the capital. Less...

In old records. Such goods as, after a wreck, swim or float on the waves. Jacob.

In old records. Such goods as, after a wreck, swim or float on the waves. Jacob. Less...

A duty anciently paid twice a year towards the charge of wax candles in churches. Spelman.

A duty anciently paid twice a year towards the charge of wax candles in churches. Spelman. Less...

A writing in which is set down the names of passengers who are carried in a public conveyance, or the description of goods sent with a common carrier by land. Wharton.

A writing in which is set down the names of passengers who are carried in a public conveyance, or the description of goods sent with a common carrier by land. Wharton. Less...

As designating a commodity or a subject of ownership, this term has the same meaning in law as in common speech; but in another sense, and especially in the plural, it may designate a body of water, such as a river, a lake, or an ocean, or an aggregate of More...

As designating a commodity or a subject of ownership, this term has the same meaning in law as in common speech; but in another sense, and especially in the plural, it may designate a body of water, such as a river, a lake, or an ocean, or an aggregate of such bodies of water, as in the phrases "foreign waters," "waters of the United States," and the like . Water is neither land nor tenement nor sus¬ceptible of absolute ownership. It is a movable thing and must of necessity continue com¬mon by the law of nature. It admits only of a transient usufructuary property, and if it es¬capes for a moment the right to it is gone forever, the qualified owner having no legal power of reclamation. It is not capable of being sued for by the name of "water, nor by a calcula¬tion of its cubical or superficial measure; but the suit must be brought for the land which lies at the bottom covered with water. As water is not land, neither is it a tenement, because it is not of a permanent nature, nor the subject of absolute property. It is not in any possible sense real estate, and hence is not em¬braced in a covenant of general warranty. Mit¬chell v. Warner, 5 Conn. 518. —Coast waters. See COAST.—Foreign waters. Those belonging to another nation or country or subject to another jurisdiction, as distinguished from "domestic" waters. The Pilot, 50 Fed. 437, 1 C. C. A. 523.—Inland waters. See INLAND.—Navigable waters. See NAVIGABLE.—Percolating waters. Those which pass through the ground beneath the surface of the earth without any definite channel, and do not form a part of the body or flow, surface or subterranean, of any water-course. They may be either rain waters which are slowly infiltrating through the soil or waters seeping through the banks or the bed of a stream, and which have so far left the bed and the other waters as to have lost their char¬acter as a part of the flow of that stream. Vineland Irr. Dist. v. Asusa Irr. Co., 126 Cal. 486, 58 Pac. 1057, 46 L. R. A. 820; Los An-Sles v. Pomeroy, 124 Cal. 587, 57 Pac. 585; erriman Irr. Co. v. Keel, 25 Utah, 96, 69 Pac 719: Deadwood Cent. R. Co. v. Barker, 14 S. D. 558, 86 N. W. 619; Montecito Val. Wa¬ter Co. v. Santa Barbara, 144 Cal. 578, 77 Pac. 1113.—Private waters. Non-navigable streams, or bodies of water not open to the re-sort and use of the general public, but entire-ly owned and controlled by one or more in-dividuals.— Public waters. Such as are adapt¬ed for the purposes of navigation, or those to which the general public have a right of access, as distinguished from artificial lakes, ponds, and other bodies of water privately owned, or sim¬ilar natura] bodies of water owned exclusively by one or more persons. See Lamprey v. Met-calf, 52 Minn. 181, 53 N. W. 1139, 18 L. R. A. 670, 38 Am. St. Rep. 541; Carter v. Thurston, 68 N. H. 104, 42 Am. Rep. 584; Cobb v. Dav¬enport, 32 N. J. Law, 369; West Point Water-Power Co. v. State, 49 Neb. 223, 68 N. W. 507; State v. Theriault, 70 Vt. 617, 41 Atl. 1030, 43 L. It A. 290, 67 Am. St. Rep. 648.— Subterranean waters. Waters which lie wholly'beneath the surface of the ground, and which either ooze and seep through the sub surface strata without pursuing any defined course or channel, (percolating waters,) or flow in a permanent and regular but invisible course, or lie under the earth in a more or less immov¬able body, as a subterranean lake.—Surface waters. As distinguished from the waters of a natural stream, lake, or pond, surface waters are such as diffuse themselves over the surface of the ground, following no defined course or channel, and not gathering into or forming any more definite body of water than a mere hog or marsh. They generally originate in rains and melting snows, but the flood waters of a river may also be considered as surface waters if they become separated from the main current or leave it never to return, and spread out over lower ground. See Schaefer v. Marthaler, 34 Minn. 487, 26 N. W. 726, 57 Am. Rep. 40; Crawford v. Rambo. 44 Ohio St 279, 7 N. BL 429; New York, etc., R. Co. v. Hamlet Hay Co., 149 Ind. 344, 47 N. E. 1060; Cairo, etc.. It Co. v. Brevoort (C. C.) 62 Fed. 129, 25 U R A. 527; Brandenburg v. Zeigler, 62 S. C. 18, 39 S. E. 790, 55 L. R. A. 414, 89 Am. St Rep. 887; Jones v. Hannovan, 55 Mo. 467; Tampa Waterworks Co. v. Cline. 37 Fla. 586, 20 South. 780, 33 L. R. A. 376, 53 Am. St Rep. 262.—Tide waters. See TIDE.—Water-bail¬iff . The title of an officer, in port towns in England, appointed for the searching of ships. Also of an officer belonging to the dry of Lon¬don, who had the supervising and search of the fish brought thither. Cowell.—Water-bay-ley. In American law. An officer mentioned in the colony laws of New Plymouth, (A. D. 1671,) whose duty was to collect dues to the colony for fish taken in their waters. Probably another form of water-bailiff. Burrill.—Wa¬ter-course. See that title infra.—Water-gage. A sea-wall or bank to restrain the cur¬rent and overflowing of the water; also an in¬strument to measure water. Cowell.—Waters-gang. A Saxon word for a trench or course to carry a stream of water, such- as are com¬monly made to drain water out of marshes. Co-well.—Water-gavel. In old records. A gavel or rent paid for fishing in or other benefit re¬ceived from some river or water. Cowell; Blount.—Water-mark. See that title infra. —Water-measure. In old statutes. A meas¬ure greater than Winchester measure by about three gallons in the bushel. CowelL—Water-ordeal. In Saxon and old English law. The ordeal or trial by water. The hot-water ordeal was performed by plunging the bare arm up to the elbow in boiling water, and escaping un¬hurt thereby. 4 Bl. Comm. 343. The cold-water ordeal was performed by casting the person suspected into a river or pond of cold water, when, if he floated therein, without any action of swimming it was deemed an evidence of his guilt; but, if he sunk, he was acquitted. Id. —Water-power. The water-power to which a riparian owner is entitled consists of the fall in tne stream, when in its natural state, as it passes through his land, or along the boundary of it; or, in other words, it consists of the dif¬ference of level between the surface where the stream first touches his land, and the surface where it leaves it. McCalmont v. Whitaker, 3 Rawle, (Pa.) 90, 23 Am. Dec. 102.—Water right. A legal right, in the nature of a cor¬poreal hereditament, to use the water of a nat¬ural stream or water furnished through a ditch or canal, for general or specific purposes, such as irrigation, mining, power, or domestic use, either to its full capacity or to a measured ex-tent or during a defined portion of the time. See Hill v. Newman, 5 Cel. 445, 63 Am. Dec. 140; Cary v. Daniels. 8 Mete. (Mass.) 480, 41 Am. Dec. 532; Canal Co. v. Hess, 6 Colo. App. 497, 42 Pac. 50.—Waterscape. An aqueduct or passage for water.—Waters of the United States. All waters within the United States which are navigable for the purposes of com¬merce, or whose navigation successfully aids commerce, are included in this term. The Dan¬iel Ball. 6 Fed. Cas. 1161. Less...

A natural stream of water fed from permanent or periodical natural sources and usually flowing in a par-ticular direction in a defined channel, hav¬ing a bed and banks or sides, and usually discharging itself into some other stream or body of water. Los Angeles v. Pomeroy, 124 Cal. 597, 57 More...

A natural stream of water fed from permanent or periodical natural sources and usually flowing in a par-ticular direction in a defined channel, hav¬ing a bed and banks or sides, and usually discharging itself into some other stream or body of water. Los Angeles v. Pomeroy, 124 Cal. 597, 57 Pac 587; Chamberlain v. Hem-ingway, 63 Conn. 1, 27 Atl. 239, 38 Am. St Rep. 330; Ribordy v. Murray, 177 111. 134, 52 N. E. 325; Rait v. Furrow, 74 Kan. 101, 85 Pac. 934, 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 157; Dickin-son v. Worcester, 7 Allen (Mass.) 19; Earl v. De Hart, 12 N. J. Eq. 284, 72 Am. Dec 395; Berkley v. Wilcox, 86 N. Y. 140, 40 Am. Rep. 519; Simmons v. Winters, 21 Or. 35, 27 Pac 7, 28 Am. St Rep. 727. There must be a stream usually flowing In a particular direction, though it need not flow con¬tinually. It may sometimes be dry. It must flow in a definite channel, having a bed, sides, or banks, and usually discharge itself into some other stream or body of water. It must be something more than a mere surface drainage over the entire face of a tract of land, occasion¬ed by unusual freshets or other extraordinary causes. It does not include the water flowing in the hollows or ravines in land, which is the mere surface-water from rain or melting snow, and is discharged through them from a higher to a lower level, but which at other times are destitute of water. Such hollows or ravines are not. in legal contemplation, water-courses. Hoyt v. Hudson, 27 Wis. 656. 9 Am. Rep. 473; San-guinetti v. Pock. 136 Cal. 466. 69 Pac. 98, 89 Am. St. Rep. 169; Luther v. Winnisimmet Co., 9 Cush. (Mass.) 171; Pyle v. Richards, 17 Neb. 180, 22 N. W. 370. But if the topography of the surrounding country is such that water accumulates in great quantities after heavy rains or at the season of melting snows, and descends periodically through a well-defined channel which the force of the water has made for itself, and which is the accustomed channel through which it flows and has always flowed, such channel is to be deemed a natural water-course. Kelly v. Dunning, 39 N. J. Eq. 482; Earl v. De Hart, 12 N. J. Eq. 280. 72 Am. Dec. 395; Simmons v. Winters, 21 Or. 35, 27 Pac. 7, 28 Am. St. Rep. 727. —Natural water-course. A natural stream flowing in a defined, bed or channel; one form¬ed by the natural flow of the water, as deter¬mined by the general superficies or conforma¬tion of the surrounding country, as distinguish¬ed from an "artificial" water-course, formed by the work of man, such as a ditch or canal. See Barkley v. Wilcox, 86 N. Y. 140, 40 Am. Rep. 510; Hawley v. Sheldon, 64 Vt 491, 24 Atl. 717. 33 Am. St. Rep. 941; Porter v. Arm¬strong, 129 N. C 101, 39 S. E. 799. Less...

A mark indicating the highest point to which water, rises, or the lowest point to which it sinks. High-water mark. This term is properly applicable only to tidal waters, and designates the line on the shore reached by the water at the high or flood tide. But it is sometimes More...

A mark indicating the highest point to which water, rises, or the lowest point to which it sinks. High-water mark. This term is properly applicable only to tidal waters, and designates the line on the shore reached by the water at the high or flood tide. But it is sometimes al¬so used with reference to the waters of arti¬ficial ponds or lakes, treated by dams in un-navigaole streams, and then denotes the highest point on the shores to which the dams can raise the water in ordinary circumstances. Howard v. Ingersoll, 13 How. 423, 14 L. Ed. 180: Storer v. Freeman, 6 Mass. 437, 4 Am. Dec. 155: Mo-bile Transp. Co. v. Mobile. 128 Ala. 335, 30 South. 645, 64 IIt A. 333, 86 Am. St Rep. 143; Morrison v. First Nat Bank, 88 Me. 155, 33 Atl. 782; Brady v. Blackinton, 113 Mass. 245 ; Cook v. McClure, 58 N. Y. 444, 17 Am. Rep. 270.—Low-water mark. That line on the shore of the sea which marks the edge of the waters at the lowest point of the ordinary ebb tide. See Stover v. Jack, 60 Pa. 342, 100 Am. Dec. 566; Gerrish v. Prop'rs of Union Wharf, 26 Me. 395, 46 Am. Dec. 568. Less...