Acquired  In  addition  to  the  natural  right  to  receive  flowing  water
water  termed  ^^  ^*®  accustomed  couTse,  rights,  the  ohjeot  of  which  is  to
easements.  interfere  with  the  natural  course  of  the  stream,  may  be
acquired  over  a  stream  flowing  through  a  man's  land
or  through  his  neighbour's  land.  Thus  a  right  may  be
acquired  to  throw  back  upon  the  land  of  proprietors  higher
up  the  stream  the  water  which,  unless  so  reflected,  would
by  the  force  of  gravity  pass  from  it ;  or  to  discharge  the
water  upon  the  land  lying  lower  down  the  stream  either
injured  in  quality,  or  with  a  degree  of  force  greater  or  less
than  the  natural  current.^

Such  acquii-ed  rights  are  termed  easements.
An  easement  may  be  defined  as  a  service  or  conve-
nience which  one  neighbour  hath,  without  profit  upon,
over,  or  from  any  land  or  water  of  another.^

An  easement  (under  which  head  aU  acquired  rights  of
water  are  classed)  differs  from  a  profit  a  prendre,  in  that
the  former  is  merely  a  right  to  do  some  act  -which,
if  done  without  such  right,  would  be  a  simple  trespass
on  another's  property,  while  a  profit  cL  prendre  carries
mth  it  a  right  to  take  and  appropriate  a  portion  of  the
soil  and  its  produce.'

Easements  must  be  used  in  connection  with  some  tene-


Definition  of
easement.
'  Gale  on  Easements,  p.  270 ;
Sampson  v.  Soddinot,  1  C.  B.,  N.  S.
611.
2  Co.  Litt.  19,  20;  see  also
Angell  on  "Watercourses,  p.  244 ;
Heu'Uns  v.  Shippam,  5  B.  &  C.  221 ;


Manning  v.  Wasdale,  5  A.  &  E.
764  ;  Sace  v.  TJ''ard,  4  E.  &  B.  702.
