Diversion  of
natural
stream  by
artificial


"  directed  a  new  trial,  on  the  ground  that  the  jury  might
"  have  been  misled  by  the  direction  of  the  learned  judge
"  who  tried  the  cause,  to  the  effect  that  if  the  stream  were
"  an  artificial  one,  no  right  whatever  coiild  have  been
"  acquired  in  it.  The  Court  held  the  direction  was  in-
"  correct, — 'because'  (in  the  words  of  the  Court)  'although
"  '  it  may  have  been  an  artificial  watercourse,  it  may  still
"  '  have  been  originally  made  under  such  circumstances,
"  '  and  have  been  so  used,  as  to  give  all  the  rights  that
"  '  the  riparian  proprietors  would  have  had,  had  it  been  a
"  '  natural  stream:'  SutcUffe  v.  Booth." ^

With  regard  to  the  question  of  pollution,  the  law  would
appear  to  be  somewhat  unsettled ;  for  whUe  in  the  cases
of  Magor  v.  Chadwick'''  and  Wood  v.  Waud^ — ^to  be  con-
sidered hereafter — the  Courts  were  of  opinion  that  even  in
cases  where  from  the  circumstances  a  riparian  owner  may
have  no  right  to  compel  the  continuance  of  an  artificial
watercourse,  he  may  have  a  right  to  prevent  the  pollution
of  it  while  it  continues  to  run,  on  the  ground  that  no  man
can  have  a  right  to  send  dirty  water  on  another's  land,
unless  he  can  prove  a  prescriptive  right  so  to  send  dirty
water  ;*  on  the  other  hand,  it  has  been  held  in  subsequent
cases  that  the  mere  possession  of  water,  not  of  right,  but
by  permission  or  grant  from  a  riparian  owner,  would  not
entitle  the  licensee  to  maintain  an  action  for  diversion  ,or
pollution  against  a  wrongdoer.^

Where  a  natural  stream  having  a  natural  source  is
diverted  by  artificial  means  without  injury  to  the  rights
of  others,  the  riparian  owners  who  would  have  had  rights
on  the  natural  course  of  the  stream  do  not  lose  those
natural  rights  from  the  fact  that  the  water  so  diverted
flows  in   an   artificial   channel."    Where,  however,  such


1  32  L.  J.,  Q.  B.  136.
