Legal principle by which the first user of water from a stream establishes a legal right to continued use of the amount originally withdrawn. Compare riparian rights.
A theory used in some western states that the first user of water has priority rights as against later users of water from the same source.
A doctrine of water law which allocates the right to use water on a first-come, first-served basis. The doctrine was developed out of the system of administrative disposition of land grant. Disputes were settled in favor of the party with the oldest grant.
A doctrine of water law that allocates the rights to use water on a first-come, first-served basis.
The first-come first-serve approach to water use, most common in the western United States. The first user of water from a stream establishes a legal right for the continued use of the amount originally withdrawn. This use-it or lose-it approach offers no efficiency incentive.
A concept of water ownership in which the landowner's right to use available water is based on a government administered permit system.
A term describing the general process by which limited water is distributed among several claimants. In the West the first person to file and use the water beneficially gets the first water right, whether or not that person owns land next to the river or lake from which the water is diverted.
A doctrine of water law that allocates the right to use water on a first-come, first-serve basis.
