(Download) "State Ex Rel Engineer v. Commissioner of Public Lands for the State of New Mexico" by In the Court of Appeals of the State of New Mexico ~ eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: State Ex Rel Engineer v. Commissioner of Public Lands for the State of New Mexico
- Author : In the Court of Appeals of the State of New Mexico
- Release Date : January 24, 2008
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 98 KB
Description
Certiorari Denied, No. 31,377, November 20, 2008 OPINION {1} This appeal arises from a district court subfile proceeding in the course of a general adjudication of water rights in the San Juan River stream system. At issue is the applicability of the federal reserved water rights doctrine to state lands that the federal government granted and conveyed to New Mexico in trust for the purpose of supporting New Mexican schools. As the manager and acting trustee for New Mexico's trust lands, the Commissioner of Public Lands for the State of New Mexico (the Commissioner) asserted a claim in the underlying adjudication for federal reserved water rights. The Commissioner argued that by legislatively designating specific sections of land to be used for the support of New Mexican schools and conveying them in trust to New Mexico, the United States Congress also impliedly intended to reserve and convey water rights in those lands. The State Engineer of the State of New Mexico (the State Engineer) and several other interested parties opposed the Commissioner's claim. Ultimately, the district court granted summary judgment in favor of the parties opposing the Commissioner. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the district court's decision and hold that the federal reserved water rights doctrine does not apply in this case. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND