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18 W. St. U. L. Rev. 589 (1990-1991)
Acton v. Blundell Revisited: Property in California Groundwater

handle is hein.journals/wsulr18 and id is 597 raw text is: Acton v. Blundell Revisited: Property in California Groundwater George G. Grover* and John F. Mann, Jr. ** In 1843 the Court of Exchequer Chamber decided what became, for its time, the leading Anglo-American case on legal rights to underground water. The ruling adopted in Acton v. BlundellI was that a landowner owns everything below the surface of his land2 so that, regardless of the effect on other owners, he may take and dispose of whatever lies be- neath-including underground water. I In Acton, the plaintiff's declaration alleged that he maintained a business as a cotton spinner in the town of Wigan (about 15 miles north- east of Liverpool), that for many years he had relied on a certain well to supply water essential to his business and that the defendant, in the course of nearby coal mining operations, had intercepted and diverted the underground source of the water.3 The defendant claimed he was within his rights in digging mining pits on his own land, even if he thereby caused the underground water to drain away.4 The trial judge, Baron Rolfe, instructed the jury in defendant's favor and the verdict went against plaintiff.' * A.B., LL.B. University of Southern California. Member of the California Bar. Formerly Judge of the Superior Court (Riverside County) and President, California Public Utilities Commission. ** Geol. Engr. Colorado School of Mines, Ph.D. University of Southern California. Consult- ant in geology and hydrology. Formerly Associate Professor of Geology, University of Southern California. 1. 152 Eng. Rep. 1223 (1843). 2. The applicable Latin maxim is Cujus est solum, ejus est usque ad coelum et ad inferos. (The owner of the soil owns also to the heavens and to the lowest depth.) See Niles Sand & Gravel Co. v. Alameda County Water Dist., 37 Cal. App. 3d 924, 934, n. 11, 112 Cal. Rptr. 846, 853, n. 11 (1974). It is frequently abbreviated cujus est solum. Cf CAL. CIV. CODE § 829: The owner of land in fee has the right to the surface and to everything permanently situated beneath or above it. (Emphasis added). 3. 152 Eng. Rep. at 1223. 4. Id. at 1224. 5. Although it is not mentioned in the opinion, the Liverpool Courier reported that the case was arrested before anything was offered for the defence, his Lordship stating that whatever might be the decision of the Jury upon the facts, his own opinion on the law was at present fixed and that

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