The appropriation must be for some useful or beneficial purpose, and when the appropriator or his successor in interest ceases to use it for such a purpose the right ceases.
Cal. Water Code § 1240
Beneficial Use
Applied in 7 court decisions — leading case 14 Cal. 3d 199 - City of Los Angeles v. City of San Fernando (1975)
Most recently applied in 219 Cal. App. 4th 397 - Young v. State Water Resources Control Board (September 2013)
Enacted by Stats. 1943, Ch. 368.
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: California Legislative Information. Reproduced from public-domain California statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.