Parshall v. Cowper’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 6 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 8 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““The volume of water to which an appropriator is entitled at any particular time is that quantity, within the limits of the appropriation, which he can and does apply to the beneficial uses stated in his certificate of appropriation. It may be more at one time than at another; and, as we understand the statute, it is for the purpose of regulating the quantity from time to time to which an appropriator is so entitled that the water commissioner is given authority to close or partially close a headgate, so as to prevent waste of water, and to secure to prior appropriators the quantity of water to which they are entitled; and in the performance of his duties, and while exercising a sound discretion and reasonable care in so doing, he is not subject to control by the courts. His acts in so doing are temporary, and the quantity may and should be changed from time to time, as the needs of an appropriator require. But, in exercising that duty, he has _ no authority to determine whether or not a water right has been forfeited or abandoned or to prevent an appropriator from taking the full quantity of water awarded by the board of control, when he is prepared to and desires to use it for the purposes stated in his certificate of appropriation. ””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Squaw Creek Irrigation District v. Mamero