v.
LORD
after stating the facts., delivered the opinion of the court.
There is another view of the matter, as affording a substantial reason for denying the relief, which is that the jurisdiction fails for want of suitable subject matter; that is to say, that the defendants, who are sued as functionaries of the state, have no real but only a nominal interest in the controversy, the state appearing to be the real defendant; hence they cannot be held accountable for what they did not do for themselves. But if it appear from the record that the relief sought is against persons or individuals in their official capacity as representatives of the state, and that it alone is to be or can be affected by the determination of the court, then is the suit directed in reality against the state, and, because it is not suable, the court is without jurisdiction. In the endeavor to lay down a rule by [*90] which it might be determined by a consideration of the record whether the suit or action is one against individuals, and not in reality against the state, Mr. Justice Midler, in Cunningham v. Macon & Bruns. R. Co. 109 U. S. 446, 451 (3 Sup. Ct. 292, 296), observes of a class of cases wherein an individual is sued in tort for an act injurious to another in regard to person or property, to which the defense is made that he proceeded under directions from the government, that “in these cases he is not sued as, or because he is, the officer of the government, but as an individual, and the court is not ousted of jurisdiction because he asserts authority as such officer. To make out his defense, he must show that his authority was sufficient in law to protect him. ’ ’ This court has adopted the same principle. In his opinion in Dunn v. State University, 9 Or. 357, 362, Mr. Justice Watson says: “An agent of the state, whether incorporated or not, by virtue of his character simply, possesses no such immunity from being sued. He must show, in his defense to an action or suit for interfering with private rights, that he proceeded within the authority conferred by a valid law, or his defense must fail. ’ ’ And in Poindexter v. Greenhow, 114 U. S. 270 (5 Sup. Ct. 903), Mr. Justice Matthews gives the reasoning upon which this principle is founded, saying: ‘ ‘ The ratio decidendi in this class of cases is very plain. A defendant sued as a wrongdoer, who seeks to substitute the state in his place, or to justify by the authority of the state, or to defend on the ground that the state has adopted his act and exonerated him, cannot rest on the bare assertion of his defense. He is bound to establish it. The state, as a political corporate body, can act only through agents, and can command only by laws. It is necessaryj therefore, for such a defendant, in order to complete his defense, to produce a law of the state which constitutes his commission as its agent, and a warrant for his act. ’ ’
Belonging to this class of cases is trespass upon realty, giving rise to the action of trespass or ejectment involving the title. The leading case upon this phase of the inquiry is that of United States v. Lee, 106 U. S. 196 (1 Sup. Ct. 240). It was [*91] instituted in the state court of Virginia by Lee against Kaufman and Strong, who were in charge under orders from the Secretary of War, to recover a tract of land purchased by the general government at a tax sale, and long held and used, a part of it as a military station, and the rest as a national cemetery. The case was subsequently removed into the federal court, and from there went to the Supreme Court of the United States-The Attorney General of the United States, without submitting the government to the jurisdiction of the court, suggested that the property in dispute was held, occupied, and possessed by the United States for governmental purposes, through its officers and agents, having actual possession for and in behalf of the government, and without any personal interest in it, and therefore that the court had no jurisdiction of the subject of the controversy. The result of the trial upon the evidence adduced was to show that the plaintiff had a valid title and the United States was without any; but, notwithstanding, it was contended that the court could render no judgment against the defendants. The contention was declared to be unsound, and a judgment was given against the defendants as individuals. Subsequent cases by the same court, however, declare that such a judgment is not binding on the general government, so that in reality the action was not against the government, but against individuals, by whose acts, being tortious, and for which they could show no justification, it was not bound. The principle involved was whether the United States, by a mere suggestion through its Attorney General that the title was in the general government, without submitting to the jurisdiction of the court and permitting it to try and determine such title as between the alleged real parties to the controversy, ousted the court of its jurisdiction to proceed with the parties before it. The answer came in the negative. Mr. Chief Justice Marshall, at a much earlier date, in United States v. Peters, 9 U. S. (5 Cranch) 115, 139, declared: “It certainly can never be alleged that a mere suggestion of title in a state to property in possession of an individual must arrest the proceedings of the court, and prevent their looking into the sug [*92] gestión, and examining the validity of the title. ’ ’ So Mr. Justice Miller said in the Lee case: ‘ ‘ That the proposition that, when an individual is sued in regard to property which he holds as officer or agent of the United States, liis possession cannot be disturbed when that fact is brought to the attention of the court, has been overruled and denied in every ease where it has been necessary to decide it. ’ ’
In Stanley v. Schwalby, on the first appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States (147 U. S. 508, 13 Sup. Ct. 418), the Lee case was alluded to, but the question was not pressed nor involved; but, on the second appeal (162 U. S. 255, 16 Sup. Ct. 754), it came up. The United States District Attorney had attempted to appear and intervene in behalf of the United States without appropriate authority from the Attorney General. The judgment of the court was directed against the United States and its property, and for the costs of the proceeding,— not merely against its officers, — and it was held that the United States could not be thus precluded. The doctrine of the Lee case was unquestioned. A later ease is that of Tindal v. Wesley, 167 U. S. 204 (17 Sup. Ct. 770), wherein Wesley brought an action to recover possession of realty against Tindal, Secretary of the State of South Carolina, and Boyles, acting under his directions with reference to the property in dispute. The defense was interposed that they had no interest in the property, that the title thereof was in the state, and that they were exercising ownership merely as its officers and agents. The jurisdiction of the court, however, was maintained; Mr. .Justice Harlan, in an exhaustive and masterly opinion, wherein he reaffirms the Lee case, and commends its doctrine as sound, saying: ‘ ‘ The settled doctrine of this court wholly precludes the idea that a suit against individuals to recover possession of real property is a suit against the state simply because the defendant holding possession happens to be an officer of the state, and asserts that he is lawfully in possession on its behalf. * * And when such officers or agents assert that they are in rightful possession they must make good that assertion when it is made to appear in a suit against them as individuals that the [*93] legal title and right of possession is in the plaintiff.” Thus it may be seen from these authorities that whenever officers of the state or of the United States are sued as individuals, bringing into question the title to realty, the court will not be dispossessed of jurisdiction simply because there is a suggestion on the record that the state or the United States is the true owner, but it will look into the record, and proceed to try and determine the title; and if it appear that the individuals, although sued as officers, are without title or legal authority in the premises, and the plaintiffs have a good title, it will do right as between the parties, and render judgment accordingly.
The foregoing discussion is directed to that phase of the case involving the contention that the plaintiff cannot maintain the suit because it is suggested or answered that the state is the owner of all the water of Mill Creek, or sufficient of the water of the Santiam Liver introduced therein, including the natural flow of Mill Creek, to supply the state institutions, and that, therefore, this is in reality a suit against the state to enjoin a trespass, and thereby to preclude its title or right to such use.
Another phase is presented by the contention that the suit is designed to compel the specific performance of a contract on the part of the state. Mr. Justice Gray, in Belknap v. Schild, 161 U. S. 10 (16 Sup. Ct. 443), has comprehensively stated the conditions under which an injunction will not lie when the state is involved. He says: “But no injunction can be issued against officers of a state to restrain or control the use of property already in the possession of the state, or money in its treasury, when the suit is commenced; or to compel the state to perform its obligations; or where the state has otherwise such an interest in the object of the suit as to be a necessary party.” Preceding the announcement of this rule, he makes another touching the question as to when an injunction will lie: “In.a suit to which the state is neither formally nor really a party, its officers, although acting by its order and for its benefit, may be restrained by injunction, when the remedy at law is inadequate, from doing positive acts for which they are [*94] personally and individually liable, taking or injuring tbe plaintiff’s property, contrary to a plain official duty requiring no exercise of discretion, and in violation of the constitution or laws of the United States. ’ ’ If the things which it is sought by the suit to require the defendants to do are things which when done and performed constitute a performance by the state of the contract alleged to be controlling in the premises, the suit would be to all intents and purposes one against the state, though nominally against persons who are its officers, as a performance on the part of the officers would be in pursuance of the public duty enjoined upon them, and hence an act of the state itself through its functionaries: Hagood v. Southern, 117 U. S. 52 (6 Sup. Ct. 608). The converse of the proposition is equally true, that, where the purpose of the suit is to restrain the doing of all such acts as constitute breaches or infractions of the contract, and thereby indirectly to compel the specific performance of the contract, it is likewise a suit against the state, and the court is without jurisdiction in either case to give relief: Ex parte Ayres, 123 U. S. 443 (8 Sup. Ct. 164). “Although,” says Mr. Justice Bradley in Hans v. Louisiana, 134 U. S. 1, 20 (10 Sup. Ct. 504, 509), “The obligations of a state rest for their performance upon its honor and good faith, and cannot be made the subject of judicial cognizance unless the state consents to be sued, or comes itself into court, yet, where property or rights are enjoyed under a grant or contract made by a state, they cannot wantonly be invaded. "Whilst the state cannot be compelled by suit to perform its contracts, any attempt on its part to violate property or rights acquired under its contracts maybe judicially resisted, and any law impairing the obligation of contracts under which such property or rights are held is void, and powerless to affect their enjoyment.” An apt case, indicating what the court will do by its injunctive process, is Belknap v. Schild, 161 U. S. 10 (16 Sup. Ct. 443). It was there sought to enjoin government officers from the infringement of a patent, also from the use of property manufactured through the infringement, and for an accounting for profits derived therefrom, and [*95] it was held that such officers were liable to a suit for the infringement, but that they were not liable for the property or the accumulation of profits, as these were already in the hands of the government, the officers being without possession or control over them.
Now, as to the alleged prescriptive right. The four-inch pipe or main was first laid to the asylum about 1880, and this was replaced by a six-inch main in 1885. Mr. Strang perhaps voices the consensus of the testimony on this phase of the ease, and we will therefore make more particular mention of what he has to say. He was engineer at the asylum from 1883 to July, 1885, and from January, 1894, to the present time. The old pump was used until 1898, when the new station was erected and established, from which time two pumps were used, each with a ten-inch suction pipe, the old having been supplied with a pipe of like dimensions. Referring to this pipe, he was asked how many gallons it would throw, to which he answered, ‘ ‘ It would depend upon the speed of the pump. ’ ’ He then continues, in substance, that the last time he counted the revolutions it would throw in the neighborhood of 290,000 or 300,000 gallons every twenty-four hours, the estimate having been made after the new system was put in operation; that the work of laying the pipe in 1885 was done openly, an appropriation having been made for the especial purpose, and that no effort has ever been made by the asylum authorities to conceal any fact tending to reveal the quantity of water used; that the water when once drawn into the main does not return in any considerable quantity to Mill Creek, and that some years ago a well was sunk at the asylum, which supplies that institution with cooking and drinking water. This is followed by a description somewhat in detail as to when and in what manner the water was used. Mr. Bastwiek estimates that about 216,000 gallons could be delivered through the two-inch pipe every twenty-four hours, so that Mr. Strang shows an actual delivery in excess of this. Dr. Williamson testifies that more water is now being used at the asylum than when he became connected with that institution, in 1886. There is nothing more definite than this as to the quantity of water taken for use at these state institutions during the ten years preceding the commencement of this suit. It exceeded the capacity [*102] of the two-inch supply pipe, no doubt, in later years, but it is certainly not deducible from the testimony that there was an excess as early as 1880 or 1885 or 1890 or 1892. The main was of sufficient capacity to carry a much larger amount than could be drawn through the two-inch pipe, but the pumps governed the quantity forced into the main, and that was in turn regulated by the speed at which the pumps were operated. The diversity of use to which the water was applied furnishes no reliable standard, either as to the quantity or as to what date in the past any given amount was taken. Another condition is that the means by which the water was taken into the cisterns from the tailraees were concealed absolutely from all ordinary observation. Before the plaintiff could be informed that any was being drawn in from Mill Creek above the amount to which the state was rightfully entitled, it had to obtain the consent of the authorities in charge at the penitentiary (which it should be stated was freely given) to enter the cisterns and make a special examination. It was with difficulty even then that the discovery was made, but, as soon as made, the plaintiff began to protest against the taking of so much water, which it continued until the institution of this suit.
From these considerations plaintiff is entitled to a decree against the defendants, restraining them from diverting from Mill Creek, for use at the state institutions or otherwise, any water in excess of such an amount as can be pumped through a pipe not exceeding two inches in diameter. The water power to be utilized for propelling machinery and for mechanical purposes is not questioned. Whatever pumps and appliances have been put into place, including water pipes and mains for the purpose of diverting water and applying it to use, have become the property and are now in the possession of the state, so that the decree cannot extend to or affect them in any particular, and the finding as to the plaintiff’s title to the natural flow of the water in Mill Creek will be omitted. So far as the decree of the trial court is not in harmony with these directions it will be modified; otherwise it will be affirmed.
Modified.
On Motion to Recall Mandate.
Per Curiam. This is a motion to recall the mandate for the purpose of having eliminated from the decree the following provision: “Appellants, and each and all of them, and the [*104] agents, employes, and attorneys of them, and each of them, and each and all of the successors of appellants, and their, and each of their, agents, employes, and attorneys, in taking from said Mill Creek such an amount of water as they can pump through a pipe not exceeding two inches in diameter, are hereby enjoined from using any appliances for such purpose which will take or permit the taking of any greater quantity of water than can be pumped through a pipe not exceeding two inches in diameter.” The argument is that, under the Savage deed, for purposes other than mechanical, the state is entitled to take such a quantity of water as it can pump through a pipe not exceeding two inches in diameter, and that the size of the pipe is specified in the deed as a measure of the quantity of water to be taken, and not the means by which it shall be taken, so that it is immaterial what the capacity of the appliances is, if no more water is actually taken than the quantity specified. But it is not necessary for us to stop to consider whether this is a correct interpretation of the deed. The record shows that in 1897 the then agents of the state, regardless of plaintiff’s rights, constructed within the penitentiary stockade a large, covered cistern, to which they connected pumping works having a capacity several times in excess of the amount of water that can be pumped through a two-inch pipe. By means of a secret and underground conduit, they tapped Mill Creek where it passes through the stockade, and thereby conveyed enough water to the cistern so that thereafter, notwithstanding it was constantly being pumped therefrom through two ten-inch suction pipes, it was still maintained at the same level as the water in the creek. These pumps and works are the property of the state, are within its inclosure, and under the sole charge of its agents and servants. They are not open to the inspection of the plaintiff, or of any one else, except by special permission of the parties in charge thereof. It is clear., therefore, that the plaintiff can have no possible means of ascertaining and determining from time to time whether its rights are being invaded, if the state is permitted to maintain suction pipes and other appliances for the purpose [*105] of supplying the pumps with water that will take or permit to be taken large quantities of water in excess of that to which the state is entitled. The only efficient remedy for the plaintiff is an injunction restraining the use of any appliances for the purposes stated that will take or permit to be taken more water than ca.n be pumped through a, two-inch pipe. The decree is not intended to affect the right to use the pumps and appliances now in place in any other respect. The motion will therefore be denied. Motion Denied.