City & County of San Francisco v. United States

This is an appeal from a decree of the District Court holding that the City and County of San Francisco, hereinafter called the “City”, has violated Section 6 of the Raker Act 1 ( 38 Stat. 242 , 245), by its dis *571 posal of electric energy generated and transmitted through utilization of lands and rights granted to the City by the United States under the terms of that Act, and enjoining such violation. The Court also decreed that if the City should fail to comply with the injunction, “It shall be and hereby is enjoined and restrained from using for development and transmission of electric energy any of the lands, rights and privileges granted to it by plaintiff [the United States] by the Raker Act.”

Before dealing with the contentions of the parties we will state the facts relevant to the controversy.

When the Raker Act was passed (December 19, 1913) San Francisco was a rapidly growing city in an area of comparatively small rainfall, with a small runoff from the neighboring hills which was impounded, distributed and sold to the people of San Francisco by a private corporation, the Spring Valley Water Company, under a “constitutional franchise”, by means of water mains and…