Water and boundaries
Prior appropriation
A water rights system allocating use by priority of claim rather than by land ownership
Used across much of the arid western United States. The right belongs to whoever first put the water to a recognized beneficial use and continues to do so, regardless of whether their land touches the water. It is often summarized as "first in time, first in right".
How the exam asks about it
The contrast with riparian rights is the examinable point: riparian rights attach to the land, appropriative rights attach to the use.
Related terms
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