Wallace Ranch Water Co. v. Railroad Commission of California

The Foothill Ditch Company is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the state of California, and for many years last past has been, and now is, engaged in the business of transporting and delivering water to consumers along the course of its canal for compensation. It is a public utility, and, as such, is subject to regulation by the Railroad Commission of the state. The ditch company made application to the commission for an increase in rates, and upon such application the commission established a rate of 14 cents for each miner’s inch flow of water for twenty-four hours. Thereafter, and within the time prescribed by law, the Wallace Ranch Water Company filed a petition for rehearing, which was granted. The grounds of the petition are thus stated in the opinion on rehearing filed by the commission :

“The Wallace Ranch Water Company contends that it has an adjudicated right to use three cubic feet of water per second from the water of the Kaweah River and the right to convey said three cubic feet of water -free of charge through the present Foothill Ditch, a distance' of approximately three miles; that, through its predecessors in interest, said Wallace Ranch…