Stevens

This is an appeal from a judgment of dismissal following an order sustaining a demurrer to the complaint without leave to amend.

The action was brought to restrain the* defendant, Stevens, from preventing, obstructing or impeding the natural flow of the Whitewater River in Riverside County, except as the same may be necessary for reasonable uses and purposes on the lands of said defendant.

It appears from the allegations of the complaint that the plaintiff is, and since January 16, 1918, has been, a county water district duly organized and existing under the provisions of an act called in these proceedings the County Water District Act (Stats. 1913, p. 1049); that from time immemorial there has existed a natural depression or valley in the county of Riverside, extending for a distance of approximately sixty miles southeasterly from the summit of San Gorgonio Pass, which is about 2,500 feet in elevation, to the westerly shore of the Saltón Sea, which is 250 feet below sea-level; that within said pass for a distance of about sixteen miles 'southeasterly from said summit said valley is narrow and varies from two to four miles in width, and is bounded on the northerly side by San…

I dissent from the foregoing opinion.

The act under which the appellant was organized (see. 12, subd. 6), in so far as it purports to authorize the organization of a district with power “to commence, maintain, intervene in and compromise, in the name of the district, and to assume the costs of any action or proceeding involving or affecting the ownership or use of waters or water rights, within the district, used or useful for any purpose of the district or a benefit to any land situated therein,” is unconstitutional for the reason that the title of the act does not mention this grant of power. Subdivision 6 of section 12 of the act purporting to invest the district with this power was amended in 1923, and by said amendment it was sought to enlarge the powers of the district, given by the original act, to sue on behalf of the land owners and water users in the district. But in the amendatory act no mention or reference is made in its title to such power or to the enlarged powers which it was sought by said amendment to confer upon said district. The titles to both the original and amendatory acts are set forth in the majority opinion, and I submit that no one reading them would…