30 USC § 51 - Water users’ vested and accrued rights; enumeration of uses; protection of interest; rights-of-way for canals and ditches; liability for injury or damage to settlers’ possession

---
identifier: "/us/usc/t30/s51"
source: "usc"
legal_status: "official_prima_facie"
title: "30 USC § 51 - Water users’ vested and accrued rights; enumeration of uses; protection of interest; rights-of-way for canals and ditches; liability for injury or damage to settlers’ possession"
title_number: 30
title_name: "MINERAL LANDS AND MINING"
section_number: "51"
section_name: "Water users’ vested and accrued rights; enumeration of uses; protection of interest; rights-of-way for canals and ditches; liability for injury or damage to settlers’ possession"
chapter_number: 2
chapter_name: "MINERAL LANDS AND REGULATIONS IN GENERAL"
positive_law: false
currency: "119-84"
last_updated: "2026-04-17"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
source_credit: "(R.S. § 2339.)"
---


# 1 Water users’ vested and accrued rights; enumeration of uses; protection of interest; rights-of-way for canals and ditches; liability for injury or damage to settlers’ possession

See Repeal; Savings Provision note below.

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Whenever, by priority of possession, rights to the use of water for mining, agricultural, manufacturing, or other purposes have vested and accrued, and the same are recognized and acknowledged by the local customs, laws, and the decisions of courts, the possessors and owners of such vested rights shall be maintained and protected in the same; and the right-of-way for the construction of ditches and canals for the purposes herein specified is acknowledged and confirmed; but whenever any person, in the construction of any ditch or canal, injures or damages the possession of any settler on the public domain, the party committing such injury or damage shall be liable to the party injured for such injury or damage.

---

**Source Credit**: (R.S. § 2339.)

## Editorial Notes

### Codification

R.S. § 2339 derived from , .

Section is also set out as the first par. of , Public Lands.

## Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Repeal; Savings Provision

Provision of this section, “and the right-of-way for the construction of ditches and canals for the purposes herein specified is acknowledged and confirmed; but whenever any person, in the construction of any ditch or canal, injures or damages the possession of any settler on the public domain, the party committing such injury or damage shall be liable to the party injured for such injury or damage.” was repealed by , , , effective on and after , insofar as applicable to the issuance of rights-of-way over, upon, under, and through the public lands and lands in the National Forest System. Such repeal not to be construed as terminating any valid lease, permit, patent, etc., existing on , see , set out as a note under , Public Lands.

### Submerged Lands Act

Provisions of this section as not amended, modified or repealed by the Submerged Lands Act, see , Public Lands.