Robinson

Defendant Nevada Irrigation District appeals from a judgment of the Superior Court of Nevada County wherein defendant was ordered, in addition to the payment of damages, to provide certain water to plaintiffs at a specified price pursuant to a contract dated May 12, 1918. Subsequently, in accordance with a stipulation of defendant and cross-complainant May, defendant’s appeal as to May was dismissed.

As such this appeal concerns itself principally with the trial court’s interpretation of the May 12, 1918, contract executed by the predecessors in interest of plaintiffs and the predecessor in interest of the defendant, hereinafter referred to as District. The contract provided that its provisions “shall inure to the benefit of the parties of the first part herein [landowners] their heirs and assigns, and shall be deemed and taken as a covenant running with the land.”

The basic purpose of the “1918 contract” was that in return for an easement through the property now owned by plaintiffs, the District would sell and deliver to plaintiffs certain “foreign water” at the rate of $6 per acre so long as certain conditions continued to exist.

The District ceased providing water…