New Jersey v. New York
United States Supreme Court
283 U.S. 336 (1931)
- Written by Rose VanHofwegen, JD
Facts
New York (defendant) sought to divert 600 million gallons of water daily from the Delaware River to increase the water supply to New York City. New Jersey (plaintiff) sued to enjoin the diversion, claiming it would render the Delaware unnavigable, deprive New Jersey and its citizens of the undiminished flow of the river, preclude building a dam for hydroelectric power, impair water quality, and harm oyster fisheries by increasing salinity. The court referred the case to a master, who heard evidence including the testimony of an army engineer who said the diversion would not impair the navigability of the Delaware. The master adopted that conclusion and found diverting 600 million gallons would not materially affect the sanitary condition of the river for multiple purposes. Finally, the master prepared a report adopting principles of equitable division from previous water cases for the Supreme Court to incorporate into its decision.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Holmes, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 815,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.