The Colorado doctrine
Subtitle: water rights, corporations, and distributive justice on the American frontier
By: David Schorr
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: 2012
Place of publication: New Haven
Language: eng
Number of pages: 235
ISBN-13: 9780300134476
Subjects: Water rights; History
Description: "Making extensive use of archival and other primary sources, David Schorr demonstrates that the development of the 'appropriation doctrine,' a system of private rights in water, was part of a radical attack on monopoly and corporate power in the arid West. Schorr describes how Colorado miners, irrigators, lawmakers, and judges forged a system of private property in water based on a desire to spread property and its benefits as widely as possible among independent citizens. He demonstrates that ownership was not dictated by concerns for economic efficiency, but by a regard for social justice"--Provided by publisher.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: The sources of the Colorado appropriation doctrine; title: Early Colorado water law and Coffin v. Left Hand Ditch Co; title: The regulation of Colorado water corporations; title: Beneficial use and limits on transfer; title: Conclusion.