Pomeroy

This is a suit to enjoin the defendants from interfering with a certain dam and ditch by means of which the plaintiff diverts water from the Los Angeles river for the use of its inhabitants and for domestic purposes. The dam and ditch in question are situated upon a part of the Providencia rancho which belongs to the defendants, and the question is whether the city has'the right to maintain them. The cause was tried in the superior court without a jury, the facts found in favor of the plaintiff, and judgment entered accordingly. The defendants appeal from the judgment and from an order denying a new trial.

The following is a general outline of the case presented by the record. The Los Angeles river flows through the city of Los Angeles, which has succeeded to the rights of the former pueblo in respect to the waters of the river. Above the city is the Los Feliz rancho, and above that the Providencia. The Providencia was granted by the Mexican authorities to Vicente de la Osa in 1843. In 1845 De la Osa made a grant, in the form usually employed at that time, to Maria Ignacia Verdugo de Feliz, her heirs and successors, of “the right to open a zanja over my said land and to use of…