26 Minn. 37 | Minn. | 1879
The plaintiff was and is the owner of a canal, constructed to convey water for mill purposes, and of the power in the water conveyed by it.
It granted to one Smith “the right (subject to the right of earlier grantees of said company) to have and draw from the pond or canal of said Minneapolis Mill Company, seven mill-powers of water as defined in the said proposals, to be used upon the following described lots or pieces of land, situate in the city of Minneapolis, in Hennepin county, in the state of Minnesota, to wit: lot five in block 16; lots one and three,
The court below, on these facts, rendered judgment against defendants for five hundred dollars, the value of the use of the water-power. The defendants make two objections to this: First, That plaintiff is not entitled to recover at all. Second, If at all, it is entitled to recover, not the value of the use of the water-power, but only nominal damages, because no special damages are shown. A decision of the first of these objections covers the second. To sustain the first objection, defendants seem to assume that the grant by plaintiff vested in Smith the title to seven water-powers in the canal, and argue that the restriction confining the use of them to particular lots designated or to be designated is repugnant
Judgment affirmed.