Mehrtens

The plaintiff is incorporated under the laws of this state for the purpose of supplying water for irrigation and domestic use, and other purposes to which water may be put, to the farming neighborhood surrounding and lying contiguous to the town of Lindsay, in the county of Tulare, and seeks in this proceeding to condemn certain lands for the purpose of constructing a ditch or canal through which to conduct water from Kaweali River to said farming neighborhood. Judgment was rendered in its favor for a condemnation of the land sought to be appropriated by it, and fixing, the amount of damage which should be paid by it to each defendant for the land taken from him. In their appeal from this judgment, the argument of the appellants is directed chiefly to an attempt to show that the land to which the plaintiff seeks to conduct the water is not a farming neighborhood, and that the supplying of water to that land is not a public use, and therefore the plaintiff cannot exercise the right of eminent domain for the purpose of taking their lands.

The right of the state to take private property for public use is an inherent element of its sovereignty, and its exercise is restrained only by…