Petrie v. Nampa Meridian Irr Dist

CourtUnited States Supreme Court
Citation63 L.Ed. 178,248 U.S. 154,39 S.Ct. 25
Docket NumberNo. 47,47
PartiesPETRIE et al. v. NAMPA & MERIDIAN IRR. DIST
Decision Date09 December 1918

Mr. Oliver O. Haga, of Boise, Idaho, for plaintiffs in error.

Mr. B. E. Stoutemyer, of Boise, Idaho, for defendant in error.

Mr. Justice CLARKE delivered the opinion of the Court.

The Board of Directors of the Nampa & Meridian Irrigation District, a quasi municipal corporation, organized under the laws of Idaho (Pioneer Irrigation District v. Walker, 20 Idaho, 605, 119 Pac. 304; Colburn v. Wilson, 23 Idaho, 337, 130 Pac. 381), filed an amended petition in the district court of that state, praying for the examination, approval, and confirmation by the court of a contract which it desired to enter into with the United States government, acting through the Secretary of the Interior, which provided that the United States should sell and the irrigation district should purchase, and in the manner prescribed pay for, a supply of water to irrigate an extensive tract of arid land within the district, and to supplement an insufficient supply, for other lands, which the district had theretofore acquired from other sources. The proposed contract also provided that the United States and the district should share in the expense of constructing a system of drainage, to reclaim considerable areas of land within the district which had become 'water-logged' through seepage from both the government and the district systems of irrigation, and to prevent threatened damage to other lands from such seepage.

The proceeding involved is prescribed by the state statutes, which provide that when such a petition is filed the court shall fix a day for hearing, and shall notify the persons interested therein by publication, for four weeks, in a newspaper published in the county. Any persons interested in the subject-matter may demur to or answer the petition, and the rules of pleading and practice prescribed in the Code of Civil Procedure of the state (Revised Codes Idaho, vol. 1, tit. 14, c. 4, §§ 2397, 2398, and 2401) are made applicable.

The required notice having been given, the plaintiffs in error, owners of lands within the irrigation district, filed an 'answer and cross-complaint,' in which they denied many allegations of the petition, and affirmatively alleged: That if the contract should be entered into they would be obliged to pay an assessment of $75 upon each acre of their land for water rights which they did not require, because they had a sufficient supply from other sources; that neither the United States, nor the Secretary of the Interior, nor the irrigation district had authority under the laws of the United States to enter into the contract; and that, for these reasons, if it were approved and entered into, the plaintiffs in error would be deprived of their property without due process of law and without compensation, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. A permanent injunction was prayed for, restraining the petitioners from entering into the proposed contract and from levying...

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9 cases
  • South Dakota v. Neville
    • United States
    • United States Supreme Court
    • February 22, 1983
    ...16, 79 L.Ed. 191 (1934); McCoy v. Shaw, 277 U.S. 302, 48 S.Ct. 519, 72 L.Ed. 891 (1928); Petrie v. Nampa and Meridian Irrigation District, 248 U.S. 154, 157, 39 S.Ct. 25, 26, 63 L.Ed. 178 (1918); Enterprise Irrigation District v. Farmers Mutual Canal Co., 243 U.S. 157, 163-166, 37 S.Ct. 318......
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  • Treadway v. Terminal Railroad Assn., 23153.
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    • Court of Appeal of Missouri (US)
    • July 2, 1935
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