Overview

"Exploring the little-known history behind the legal doctrine of prior appropriation—""first in time is first in right""—used to apportion water resources in the western United States, this book focuses on the important case of Wyoming v. Colorado (1922). U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Willis Van Devanter, a former Chief Justice of Wyoming, ruled in that state's favor, finding that prior appropriation applied across state lines—a controversial opinion influenced by cronyism. The dicta in the case, that the U.S. Government has no interest in state water allocation law, drove the balkanization of interstate water systems and resulted in the Colorado River Interstate Compact between Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California. The exhaustive research that has gone into this book has uncovered the secret that Associate Justice Van Devanter had waited eleven years to publish his opinion in this important, but politically self-serving, case, at last finding a moment when his senior colleagues were sufficiently absent or incapacitated to either concur or dissent. Without the knowledge of his ""brethren,"" save his ""loyal friend"" Taft, and without recusal, Van Devanter unilaterally delivered his sole opinion to the Clerk for publication on the last day of the Supreme Court's October 1921 Term."

Full Product Details

Author:   James H. Davenport
Publisher:   McFarland & Co Inc
Imprint:   McFarland & Co Inc
Dimensions:   Width: 17.80cm , Height: 1.10cm , Length: 25.40cm
Weight:   0.538kg
ISBN:  

9781476681207

ISBN 10:   1476681201
Pages:   222
Publication Date:   30 October 2020
Recommended Age:   From 18 years
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

"Prologue: Of Water, Men and the Law Part I. The Times  1. The Nation Moves West (1830–1880)  2. Herbert Spencer and Social Darwinism (1859–1938)  3. Economic Fortunes and Misfortunes (1860–1875)  4. The Prior Appropriation Doctrine (1840s–Present)  5. Equitable Apportionment (1902–Present)  6. Interstate Compacts (1922–Present) Part II. The Man Willis the Lawyer (1812–1894)  7. Young Willis Van Devanter  8. Cincinnatus (1833–1885)  9. Watching the Court (1870s, 1880s) 10. Willis Goes West (1883) 11. The Warren Machine (1884–1890) 12. Willis and the ""Johnson County War"" (1890–1892) 13. Banditti of the Plains (1893–1896) Willis the Politician/Bureaucrat 14. Willis' Wyoming Politics Go National (1892–1896) 15. Cleveland's Second Chance, Senator Warren and the McKinley Administration (1895–1897) 16. Assistant Attorney General Van Devanter (1897–1903) Willis the Judge 17. Van Devanter's Eighth Circuit Decisions (1903–1911) 18. Reasonable Rail Rates, the Sherman Act (1890–1911) 19. The Supreme Court Turns White (1908–1911) 20. The Sherman Act at the Supreme Court 21. ""Good Fellows"" Willis and William (1921–1922) Part III. The Laramie River Litigation 22. Wyoming v. Colorado (1903–1913) 23. Who Controls the Water? (1902–1917) 24. Development Under the Reclamation Act and Return to Court (1905–1922) 25. Judicial Harmony (1922) 26. Natural Resource or Interstate Commerce? (1921–1923) 27. Van Devanter's Surreptitious Composition of the Opinion and Decree (1922) 28. Wyoming v. Colorado, Final Opinion Published (1922) 29. Where Was the Balance of the Court on June 5, 1922? (1922) 30. The Decree and Holding of Wyoming v. Colorado Part IV. Implications for Water Law 31. What of the Merits of Wyoming v. Colorado? 32. What of the Effect of the Decision in Wyoming v. Colorado? 33. The Case for Recusal Part V. Willis Van Devanter's Justice 34. Van Devanter's Indian Cases (1897–1921) 35. Van Devanter's Income Tax Cases (1920–1925) 36. The Four Horsemen 37. The Measure of a Justice 38. Finis Epilogue: That Was Then, This Is Now Chapter Notes Bibliography Index"

Reviews

Robust and intriguing...recommended --Choice

Author Information

James Davenport is an experienced natural resource lawyer now residing in Washington State's Yakima Valley. His public policy perspective derives from more than 40 years advising states, counties and private parties competing to secure natural resource amenities or resist environmental harm.

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