Court Opinion

ID: 9537284
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 07:15:19.557876+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:56:22.873671
License: Public Domain

DISSENTING AND CONCURRING OPINION OF
MARUMOTO, J.
I dissent from the decision set forth in the last paragraph of the foregoing opinion of the court that neither Gay & Robinson nor McBryde has any right to divert the water flowing in Koula Stream and Hanapepe River to watersheds beyond the Hanapepe valley.
That decision has no relation whatsoever to the judgment appealed from in this case, and is neither within the issues raised and tried in the circuit court nor within the questions presented and argued to this court.
In the following statement of my view of the case, I will refer to the opinion of the court in this case as the majority opinion; the majority of the justices sitting in the case as the majority; the discussion of my view as the dissent, although it contains my concurrence with the majority on some matters; Gay & Robinson as G&R; and the numbered subparagraphs of Paragraph VIII of the majority opinion as items 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.
There are two cases in the Hawaii Reports which are related to this case. They are Territory v. Gay, 25 Haw. 651 (1920), 26 Haw. 382 (1922); and Territory v. Gay, 31 Haw. 376 (1930), 52 F.2d 356 (9th Cir. 1931), cert. denied 284 U.S. 677 (1931). I will refer to the earlier case as Gay I, and the later case as Gay II.
This case is a sequel to Gay II, which was, in turn, a sequel to Gay I, and represents the final phase of the controversy regarding the rights of various parties to the water originating on the lands of Koula and Manuahi, *202which has been in litigation for more than one-half of a century since the filing of Gay I.
The principal parties to the controversy at the present time are the State, G&R, and McBryde.
The State stands in the place of the Territory, as the successor in interest of the konohiki of the ahupuaa of Hanapepe, within which the ilis kupono of Koula and Manuahi are located.
G&R is the successor in interest of the konohiki of the ilis kupono of Koula and Manuahi.
McBryde is the owner of the ilis kupono of Eleele and Kuiloa, and certain kuleanas downstream in the Hanapepe valley, which are entitled to take appurtenant water from Hanapepe River.
In Gay I, the Territory challenged the ownership by G&R of a major portion of the land of Koula.1 A decision in favor of the Territory would have placed the challenged portion in the ahupuaa of Hanapepe. The Territory then would have been the owner of the surplus water of that portion of the land under the prior decisions of this court which recognized the surplus water of a stream having its source in an ahupuaa as belonging to the konohiki of the ahupuaa.
This court determined the entire land of Koula to be an ili kupono belonging to G&R. There has never been any challenge to the title of G&R to the ili kupono of Manuahi. Thus, at this date, there can be no question regarding the ownership by G&R of the lands of Koula and Manuahi.
In Gay II, the Territory, having lost in Gay I, challenged the ownership by G&R of the surplus water of Koula Stream and Manuahi Stream.
The vehicle which the Territory used in the challenge was an equity suit to enjoin G&R from diverting *203the surplus water of the two streams to the arid lands of Makaweli. However, the right of the owner of the water, whether it be the Territory or G&R, to divert it from the watershed of origin to other watersheds was not made an issue in the case. The Territory rested its case solely on the contention that ilis kupono are of a less degree of dignity than an ahupuaa and that the primary right to the water arising in such ilis is in the owner of the ahupuaa in which the ilis are located.
It is obvious that the right of the owner of the water to divert it from the watershed of origin to other watersheds was not raised as an issue in the case for the reason that the existence of such right was deemed to be a closed question under the prior court decisions going back to Peck v. Bailey, 8 Haw. 658 (1867), followed by Horner v. Kumuliilii, 10 Haw. 174 (1895), Wong Leong v. Irwin, 10 Haw. 265 (1896), and the Wailuku River cases litigated in Lonoaea v. Wailuku Sugar Co., 9 Haw. 651 (1895), and Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. v. Wailuku Sugar Co., 14 Haw. 50 (1902), 15 Haw. 675 (1904), 16 Haw. 113 (1904). Peck v. Bailey sanctioned a diversion of water from one portion of an ahupuaa to another portion of the same ahupuaa; Horner v. Kumuliilii a diversion from one kuleana to other kuleanas; and Wong Leong v. Irwin a diversion from one ahupuaa to other ahupuaas.
The circuit court limited its decision to the normal daily surplus water of Koula Stream and Manuahi Stream, finding that there was no attempt by G&R to appropriate the storm and freshet water of the streams, and entered a decree denying the injunction sought by the Territory.
Upon appeal, this court affirmed the decree in a split decision, the dissenting justice being of the view that the doctrine of riparian right was applicable to the case, both with respect to normal surplus water and storm and freshet water.
*204I do not think that there can be any question that Gay II established the following: (1) the ownership by G&R of the normal surplus water of Koula Stream and Manuahi Stream; and (2) the right of G&R to divert such surplus water to areas beyond the Hanapepe valley.
Gay II is res judicata only as between the State and G&R. However, no party other than the Territory ever challenged the ownership by G&R of the normal surplus water of the two streams. Nor has any party ever questioned the right of G&R to divert such water from the Hanapepe valley to areas outside of the valley.
It appears that one of the principal reasons, if not the only reason, which caused McBryde to institute the instant proceeding was that, after Gay II, G&R began diverting the water deemed to be storm and freshet water, and also some of the water deemed to be appurtenant to the lands downstream in the Hanapepe valley, by making changes in the facilities for the diversion of the water to Makaweli, which increased the carrying capacity of such facilities from 40,000,000 gallons per day to 65,000,000 gallons per day.
The issues in this case, raised and tried in the circuit court, were: (1) the quantity of water of Koula Stream and Manuahi Stream to which McBryde is entitled as appurtenant to its lands in the Hanapepe valley; (2) the quantity of such water to which the State is entitled as appurtenant to its lands in the valley; (3) the quantity of such water to which other owners of lands in the valley are entitled as appurtenant to their lands; (4) the quantity of such water which McBryde is entitled to take under a claim of prescriptive right; and (5) the right of G&R, the State, McBryde, and other owners of lands in the valley to the storm and freshet water of Koula Stream and Manuahi Stream. Those also were the issues, and the only issues, presented and argued to this court on the present appeal.
The circuit court made its determinations on the *205first three issues, and also a determination of the quantity of water appurtenant to the lands owned by G&R in the Hanapepe valley. Those determinations are set forth in the majority opinion. The majority holds that they were correctly made. I concur in that holding.
On the fourth issue, the circuit court determined that McBryde has a prescriptive right to take 2,084,600 gallons per day, to be charged against the surplus water which G&R is entitled to retain and divert. The majority holds, in item 4, that McBryde does not have such prescriptive right. I concur in that holding also, but not for the reason given therefor in item 4.
I think that McBryde has no prescriptive right because its taking was not adverse to the right of G&R to the normal surplus water of Koula Stream and Manuahi Stream. McBryde’s intake points are below the diversion point of G&R. In the establishment of prescriptive right to water, adverse use does not run upstream. Wellsville East Field Irrigation Co. v. Lindsay Land & Livestock Co., 104 Utah 448, 137 P.2d 634 (1943); Day v. Hill, 241 Ore. 507, 406 P. 2d 148 (1965).
On the fifth and last issue, the circuit court determined that the storm and freshet water of Koula Stream and Manuahi Stream belonged to G&R as part of the surplus water which the owner of the land on which a stream has its source is entitled to appropriate. In item 5, the majority holds that the ownership of storm and freshet water is in the State. I do not concur in that holding; nor do I agree with the determination of the circuit court on the issue.
I would follow Carter v. Territory, 24 Haw. 47 (1917), on the matter. In that case, this court divided the surplus water of a stream into normal surplus water and storm and freshet water, and held that the doctrine of riparian right was applicable to the latter.
I think that the holding in Carter v. Territory on storm and freshet water was proper. The right to storm *206and freshet water was an issue in the case. But no showing was made therein regarding any Hawaiian usage on the matter. In the situation, the disposition of the issue was governed by the statutory provision presently compiled in HRS § 1-1, which declares the common law of England, as ascertained by English and American decisions, to be the common law of Hawaii, except as otherwise fixed by Hawaiian judicial precedent or established by Hawaiian usage.
The decision set forth in the last paragraph of the majority opinion involves a consideration of the doctrine of res judicata in its effect upon G&R, and a consideration of the principle of stare decisis insofar as it prevents McBryde from diverting the water appurtenant to its lands in the Hanapepe valley for use upon its lands beyond the valley.
The majority professes to recognize in the body of the majority opinion, albeit reluctantly, that Gay II is res judicata between the State and G&R, and holds that it is binding on the State. However, the decision effectively nullifies that holding to the extent that it denies G&R the right to divert the normal surplus water of Koula Stream and Manuahi Stream to Makaweli.
Greenfield v. Mather, 32 Cal. 2d 23, 194 P.2d 1 (1948), is cited by the majority for the proposition that the doctrine of res judicata “will not be applied so rigidly as to defeat the ends of justice or important considerations of policy.”
I think that res judicata is an imperative, which commands adherence without any exception. I agree with Mr. Justice Traynor, who stated in his dissent in Greenfield v. Mather that “a departure from res judicata throws into question the finality of any judgment and thus is bound to cause infinitely more injustice in the long run than it can conceivably avert in this case”; and with Mr. Justice Edmonds, who stated in his dissent in the same case, as follows: “No doctrine in the law is more funda*207mental and it is vital to the orderly administration of justice. * * * Courts should stand firm against a policy of endless litigation in which nothing is ever decided with certainty.”
The principle of stare decisis, which is involved in the portion of the decision which prevents McBryde from diverting the water appurtenant to its lands in the Hanapepe valley for use in other areas does not require strict adherence to prior decisions as in the case of res judicata. Nevertheless, it counsels adherence to precedents, particularly with respect to precedents relating to property rights, on the reasoning that “it is better to adhere to principles once fixed, though, originally, they might not have been perfectly free from all objection, than to unsettle the law, in order to render it more consistent with the dictates of sound reason.” Washington, J., Marine Insurance Co. v. Tucker, 3 Cranch (7 U.S.) 357 (1806).
In deciding that McBryde has no right to divert the water appurtenant to its lands in the Hanapepe valley, the majority deems that the prior court decisions recognizing the right of the owners of water to divert the water from one area to other areas were based upon erroneous legal reasoning, and cites Helvering v. Hallock, 309, U.S. 106 (1940), in which the court declined to follow a precedent urged to be applicable.
In Helvering v. Hallock the court stated that it had “from the beginning rejected a doctrine of disability at self-correction,” and, further, that “stare decisis is a principle of policy and not a mechanical formula of adherence to the latest decision.” However, a careful reading of that case shows that the principle of stare decisis was not followed there because the precedent urged upon the court involved “collision with a prior doctrine more embracing in its scope, intrinsically sounder, and verified by experience,” and also because the precedent did not contain “rules of decision around *208which, by the accretion o£ time and the response of affairs, substantial interests have established themselves.”
I think that in Hawaii, around the prior court decisions sanctioning the diversion of water from one area to other areas, substantial interests have established themselves “by the accretion of time and response of affairs.”
The record in this case shows that the water diverted from Koula Stream and Manuahi Stream by G&R is used in irrigating the sugar cane fields of Olokele Sugar Company, Limited, in Makaweli, and that the water diverted from Hanapepe River by McBryde is used in irrigating its sugar cane fields in Lawai and other areas beyond the Hanapepe valley. There is also evidence in the case that, subsequent to the decision in Gay II, G&R and Olokele spent approximately $119,000 and $788,800, respectively, on the system for the diversion of the water of Koula Stream and Manuahi Stream to Makaweli, and that McBryde spent $558,000 for pumping equipment in the Hanapepe valley, $226,000 for ditches and siphons to transport the water to its cane fields beyond the valley, and $60,000 for the construction of reservoir to store the water.
Although I do not have specific information at hand, I presume that, besides the parties in this case, there are other segments in the agricultural economy of Hawaii which depend upon irrigation for the cultivation of their crops, have expended substantial sums in constructing irrigation facilities in reliance upon prior court decisions, and will be adversely affected by the decision announced today.
Chief Justice Stone stated in United States v. Southeastern Underwriters Assn., 322 U.S. 533, 579 (1944):
“To give blind adherence to a rule or policy that no decision of this Court is to be overruled would be itself to overrule many decisions of the Court which do not accept that view. But the rule of stare *209decisis embodies a wise policy because it is often more important that a rule of law be settled than that it be settled right. * * * The question then is not whether an earlier decision should ever be overruled, but whether a particular decision ought to be. And before overruling a precedent in any case it is the duty of the Court to make certain that more harm will not be done in rejecting than in retaining a rule of even dubious validity.”
That statement was made in a dissenting opinion. However, I think that, in a case such as this, it provides a proper guide to follow.

 The land of Koula contains 5,520 acres, covered by Grant 1108 and Royal Patent 6998 issued to the predecessors in title of G&R. Grant 1108 covers a portion containing 740 acres in the lower corner. The Territory did not challenge the ownership by G&R of that portion.