In Re Waters of Long Valley Creek Stream System
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Full Opinion
In re Determination of Rights to WATERS OF LONG VALLEY CREEK STREAM SYSTEM.
EUGENE A. ROWLAND et al., Petitioners and Respondents,
v.
DONALD E. RAMELLI, Claimant and Appellant; STATE WATER RESOURCES CONTROL BOARD, Respondent.
Supreme Court of California.
*344 COUNSEL
Adolph Moskovitz, Stephen A. Kronick and Kronick, Moskovitz, Tiedemann & Girard for Claimant and Appellant.
No appearance for Petitioners and Respondents.
Evelle J. Younger and George Deukmejian, Attorneys General, R.H. Connett, Assistant Attorney General, Roderick Walston and Richard C. Jacobs, Deputy Attorneys General, for Respondent.
Porter A. Towner, Russell R. Kletzing and David B. Anderson as Amici Curiae on behalf of Respondent.
OPINION
MOSK, J.
The significant problem in this case is the extent to which the State Water Resources Control Board (Board) has the power to define and otherwise limit prospective riparian rights when, pursuant to the statutory adjudication procedure set forth in Water Code section 2500 et seq., it determines all claimed rights to the use of water in a stream system. We conclude that the Legislature, in order to foster more reasonable and beneficial uses of state waters, has granted the Board broad authority to ascertain the nature of future riparian rights in this adjudication procedure. In delimiting the scope of this authority, however, we are guided by prudential considerations to apply the presumption that the Legislature does not intend a statute to raise substantial constitutional questions that may result in total or partial invalidation of the enactment, unless a contrary intention is clearly expressed. This case presents such a constitutional issue with respect to the Board's determination to extinguish a riparian landowner's future right to the use of water.
In Tulare Dist. v. Lindsay-Strathmore Dist. (1935) 3 Cal.2d 489 [45 P.2d 972], we held that section 11 of the Water Commission Act violated article X, section 2, of the California Constitution; section 11 deemed riparian rights remaining unused for 10 consecutive years to be abandoned and thereby provided for their complete extinction. The serious constitutional question raised by the Tulare holding is whether the Legislature may authorize the Board to extinguish altogether future *345 riparian rights absent a showing that less drastic limitations on those rights are insufficient to promote the most reasonable and beneficial uses of state waters. Thus, although the Board has broad authority to define and otherwise limit future riparian rights, we conclude the Legislature did not intend to authorize the complete extinction of any future riparian rights in circumstances in which the Board has failed to establish that the most reasonable and beneficial use of waters subject to the adjudication proceeding could not be promoted as effectively by placing other less severe restrictions on such rights.
The action arises out of a statutory proceeding to adjudicate the rights of all claimants to the waters of the Long Valley Creek Stream System (stream system) in Lassen, Sierra and Plumas Counties. The stream system, which contains a 465-square-mile watershed, lies astride the California-Nevada border starting at its uppermost extremity about 8 miles northwest of Reno, Nevada, and extending northwesterly about 45 miles in length to the east end of Honey Lake near Herlong, California. Long Valley Creek and its main tributaries, Purdy Creek and Balls Creek, originate in the melting snow of the Sierra Nevada near Babbit Peak. From there they flow into a semiarid and desert portion of California. In most years, there is a surplus of water early in the spring, with the flow receding rapidly when the snow has melted; this may occur as early as April or as late as June. After the snow-melt runoff is depleted, there is only enough water to irrigate a small portion of the total irrigable land.
Because of the limited water supply, there has been prolific litigation among the various water claimants in the area since at least 1883. In the interest of resolving the conflicts that have fostered such litigation, nine claimants filed a petition in 1966 with the Board for statutory adjudication of all water rights in the stream system. (Wat. Code, § 2525.) The staff of the Board conducted a preliminary investigation and recommended in favor of the petition, which the Board subsequently granted. Thereafter the Board prepared and published a notice of the proceedings (id., §§ 2526, 2527), and all persons claiming a right to the waters of the stream system notified the Board of their intention to file a claim. (Id., § 2528.) As required by Water Code section 2550, the Board then conducted an extensive investigation; it published a report containing the results of this investigation for the principal purpose of assisting water users in filing their claims of right.
After filing its report, the Board advised persons who notified it of their intention to file a claim that the claim and proof in support of it must be *346 formally presented.[1] It heard 234 claims and proofs, and 42 contests thereto, concerning the rights of the stream system. After consideration of these claims, proofs and contests, it "entered of record in its office an order determining and establishing the several rights to the water of the stream system." (Id., § 2700.)
Donald Ramelli (Ramelli), as a party aggrieved or dissatisfied with the order of determination, filed a notice of exceptions in the superior court pursuant to Water Code section 2757. Ramelli owns land upon which Balls Creek originates. For the past approximately 60 years he and his predecessors have irrigated 89 acres of this land, but before the Board he claimed prospective riparian rights in the creek for an additional 2,884 acres. The order of determination nevertheless awarded him various amounts of water for only the 89 acres as to which he was currently exercising his riparian rights; it extinguished entirely his claim as a riparian landowner to the future use of water with respect to the remaining 2,884 acres.[2]
The trial court denied Ramelli's exceptions and entered a decree consistent with the Board's order of determination. Ramelli appealed from the decree, and we reverse.
I
Ramelli's principal contention is that the trial court erroneously failed to recognize his riparian right to prospective use of the stream system. In *347 support of this contention, he initially insists that California judicial decisions have without question recognized such a right.
(1) It is true that a substantial body of case law concerning a riparian's prospective rights has developed in this state as a result of private lawsuits between various water rights claimants. Thus, for example, this court has recognized that (1) the rights of a riparian owner are not destroyed or impaired by the fact that he has not yet used the water upon his riparian lands, and therefore that the riparian right exists, whether exercised or not (Lux v. Haggin (1886) 69 Cal. 255, 390-391 [4 P. 919, 10 P. 674]; Half Moon Bay Land Co. v. Cowell (1916) 173 Cal. 543, 551 [160 P. 675]; Parker v. Swett (1922) 188 Cal. 474, 480 [205 P. 1065]; Meridian, Ltd. v. San Francisco (1939) 13 Cal.2d 424, 445 [90 P.2d 537, 91 P.2d 105]); (2) a dormant riparian right is paramount to active appropriative rights (Peabody v. City of Vallejo (1935) 2 Cal.2d 351, 374-375 [40 P.2d 486]); and (3) in resolving a dispute between a riparian who claims a prospective water right and other claimants, it may be proper for the trial court to retain jurisdiction over the matter so that the riparian's prospective right can be quantified at the time he decides to exercise it (Tulare Dist. v. Lindsay-Strathmore Dist. (1935) supra, 3 Cal.2d 489, 525; Meridian, Ltd. v. San Francisco (1939) supra, 13 Cal.2d 424, 452; Williams v. Rankin (1966) 245 Cal. App.2d 803, 819 [54 Cal. Rptr. 184]; Tehachapi-Cummings County Water Dist. v. Armstrong (1975) 49 Cal. App.3d 992, 998 [122 Cal. Rptr. 918]).
Such principles, however, are limited in their application to a context in which water rights are determined through piecemeal adjudication that will settle disputes among only a small number of those persons who claim a right to the use of water in a stream system. The judgment in this type of adjudication necessarily can bind only those who are parties to the litigation; it may subsequently be nullified by the assertion of a legitimate claim by a water user on the stream who was not a party to the suit. The most that a trial court can do in such a case, therefore, is to retain jurisdiction over prospective riparian claims.
This court has never declared that the foregoing approach is to be preferred over a statutory procedure for the comprehensive determination of all rights to the use of water in a stream system; rather, we have recognized that there is a limitation inherent in the ability of private lawsuits to provide clarity, certainty, and security to water rights and water users. Thus, in Meridian, Ltd. v. San Francisco, supra, 13 Cal.2d at page 457, we stated that "This method of resolving controversies *348 involving the rights of the users of water on the river is necessarily piecemeal, unduly expensive and obviously unsatisfactory." (2) (See fn. 3.) Our analysis of the nature of the prospective riparian right in this context therefore does not imply that the Legislature may not define or otherwise limit the scope of such a right, or delegate to the Board the authority to do so in a statutory adjudication proceeding.[3]
Ramelli contends, however, that neither the legislatively established statutory adjudication procedure nor article X, section 2, of the California Constitution permits the Board to determine that a riparian's unquantified prospective claim may constitute an unreasonable use and therefore should be quantified, subordinated to existing uses, or eliminated entirely. Thus, Ramelli argues the trial court's decree should be reversed because it sustained the Board's determination that in this case the reasonable and beneficial use of the waters in the stream system would best be promoted by extinguishing altogether his unexercised riparian right. In examining this contention, we first consider whether the Legislature in establishing the statutory adjudication procedure has authorized the Board to determine the nature of a riparian's prospective right.
(3a) Water Code section 2501 provides that "The board may determine, in the proceedings provided for in this chapter, all rights to water of a stream system whether based upon appropriation, riparian right, or other basis of right." (Italics added.) Section 2769 further states that "The decree shall in every case declare as to the water right adjudged to each party, the priority, amount, season of use, purpose of use, point of diversion, and place of use of the water...." (Italics added.) (4) It is a settled principle in California law that "When statutory language is thus clear and unambiguous there is no need for construction, and courts should not indulge in it." (Solberg v. Superior Court (1977) 19 Cal.3d 182, 198 [137 Cal. Rptr. 460, 561 P.2d 1148].) (3b) The above statutory language clearly discloses that the Legislature intended to grant the *349 Board broad authority pursuant to the statutory adjudication procedure to define and otherwise limit the scope of a riparian's future right.[4]
(5) In delimiting the scope of this authority, however, we must also consider another well-established principle of statutory construction: that is, if "`the terms of a statute are by fair and reasonable interpretation capable of a meaning consistent with the requirements of the Constitution, the statute will be given that meaning, rather than another in conflict with the Constitution.' [Citations.]" (San Francisco Unified School Dist. v. Johnson (1971) 3 Cal.3d 937, 948 [92 Cal. Rptr. 309, 479 P.2d 669].) It follows from this principle that in cases in which a statute is readily susceptible of an interpretation that will render unnecessary the resolution of a substantial constitutional issue, courts should presume the Legislature intended the statute to be construed in a fashion that would avoid the issue and consequently the risk of judicial invalidation, unless a contrary intention is clearly expressed.
The most recent declaration of the foregoing presumption was made by the United States Supreme Court in National Labor Relations Board v. Catholic Bishop of Chicago (1979) 440 U.S. 490, 500-501 [59 L.Ed.2d 533, 541, 99 S.Ct. 1313]. In that case the court examined whether Congress *350 intended to grant the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) the authority to order church schools that taught both religious and secular subjects to cease unfair labor practices and to bargain collectively with the unions. In concluding that the National Labor Relations Act did not confer jurisdiction on the NLRB to make such orders, the court began its opinion by stating: "In keeping with the Court's prudential policy it is incumbent on us to determine whether the [NLRB's] exercise of its jurisdiction here would give rise to serious constitutional questions. If so, we must first identify `the affirmative intention of Congress clearly expressed' before concluding that the Act grants jurisdiction." (Id.) Thus, although in this case it is clear that the Legislature intended to grant the Board broad authority to determine the nature and scope of water rights pursuant to the statutory adjudication procedure, we presume this grant does not authorize the Board to place limitations on future riparian rights that would raise serious constitutional questions and thereby create a substantial risk of judicial invalidation, unless the statute reveals a clearly expressed contrary intention.
In this case the Board entirely extinguished Ramelli's riparian claim to the future use of water. Such extinction raises a substantial constitutional issue as a result of our holding in Tulare Dist. v. Lindsay-Strathmore Dist. (1935) supra, 3 Cal.2d 489, 531, that section 11 of the Water Commission Act violated article X, section 2 (formerly art. XIV, § 3); the section, as stated above, provided in essence for the complete extinction of riparian rights that remained unused for 10 consecutive years. We consequently decline to construe the statutory adjudication procedure as authorizing the Board to extinguish altogether future riparian rights.[5] Our analysis will entail an examination of (1) the nature of the constitutional grant of legislative authority to promote state water policy by enacting laws that may inter alia result in the imposition of substantial limitations on future riparian rights, and (2) the serious constitutional question raised by the Tulare case concerning whether such rights may be completely extinguished.
*351 A
(6) Article X, section 2, acknowledges that in California a riparian landowner has historically possessed a common law right to the future use of water in a stream system. The provision does so by declaring that "The right to water or to the use or flow of water in or from any natural stream or water course in this State is and shall be limited to such water as shall be reasonably required for the beneficial use to be served ..." and that "Riparian rights in a stream or water course attach to, but to no more than so much of the flow thereof as may be required or used consistently with this section, for the purposes for which such lands are, or may be made adaptable, in view of such reasonable and beneficial uses...." (Cal. Const., art. X, § 2, italics added.)
As the above language also discloses, however, riparian rights are limited by the concept of reasonable and beneficial use. Moreover, they must not be exercised in a manner that is inconsistent with constitutional policy provisions that are to govern interpretations of water rights in California. In light of these policies and of the constitutional intent to limit unduly expansive interpretations of water rights that would contravene them, it becomes clear that article X, section 2, enables the Legislature to exercise broad authority in defining and otherwise limiting future riparian rights, and to delegate this authority to the Board.
Article X, section 2, declares that "because of the conditions prevailing in this State the general welfare requires that the water resources of the State be put to beneficial use to the fullest extent of which they are capable, and that the waste or unreasonable use or unreasonable method of use of water be prevented, and that the conservation of such waters is to be exercised with a view to the reasonable and beneficial use thereof in the interest of the people and for the public welfare." The provision nowhere suggests that the public interest or general welfare requires the elevation of riparian rights, future or otherwise, to a level of equal or superior constitutional protection. Rather, in accordance with its policy declaration, the provision further states that the right to water, or to its use or flow, shall be limited to reasonable beneficial uses. It thereby inhibits judicial interpretations of water rights that are inconsistent with its goals. Moreover, the provision explicitly authorizes the Legislature to "enact laws in the furtherance of the policy in this section contained." (Cal. Const., art. X, § 2.) This authorization discloses that the framers of article X, section 2, recognized that the promotion of its salutary policies *352 would require granting the Legislature broad flexibility in determining the appropriate means for protecting scarce state water resources.[6]
Our conclusion that article X, section 2, does not preclude legislative or administrative determinations with respect to the nature of future riparian rights becomes even more readily apparent upon examination of the history of the provision. Article X, section 2, was adopted by amendment in 1928.[7] It was a direct response to the decision by this court *353 in Herminghaus v. Southern California Edison Co. (1926) 200 Cal. 81 [252 P. 607], which held that a downstream riparian's right against an inferior upstream appropriator permits him to command the entire flow of the stream to flood his pastureland.[8] (Gin S. Chow v. City of Santa Barbara (1933) 217 Cal. 673, 699-700 [22 P.2d 5]; Governor's Com. to Review Cal. Water Rights Law, Riparian Water Rights in Cal. (Nov. 1977) p. 52.) Thus, we have observed that the purpose of the amendment was "`to prevent the waste of waters of the state resulting from an interpretation of our law which permits them to flow unused, unrestrained and undiminished to the sea,' and is an effort `on the part of the state, in the interest of the people of the state, to conserve our waters' without interference with the beneficial uses to which such waters may be put by the owners of water rights, including riparian owners." (Gin S. Chow v. City of Santa Barbara, supra, 217 Cal. at p. 700.)[9] We consequently find no support in the language or history of the amendment for the view that it was intended to preclude the Legislature from authorizing the Board in a statutory adjudication proceeding to determine the nature of future riparian rights. Rather, such a grant of authority is entirely consistent with the mandate of the amendment to the extent that it promotes the public interest by fostering more reasonable and beneficial uses of state waters.
We next examine whether such a broad grant of authority to the Board is consistent with the constitutional holding of Tulare Dist. v. Lindsay-Strathmore Dist., supra, 3 Cal.2d 489. Ramelli argues that a riparian's prospective right cannot be defined or otherwise limited in a statutory proceeding because of our holding in Tulare that section 11 of the Water Commission Act which declared that 10 years' nonuse, without an intervening use, constituted an abandonment of a riparian right was *354 "incongruous and in violation of the spirit of the constitutional provision...." (Id., at p. 531.) Ramelli's expansive reading of the limits of Tulare places on legislative authority is unsupportable in light of the amendment's grant of authority to the Legislature to enact laws in the furtherance of the constitutionally expressed state water policy. Moreover, Tulare is distinguishable from the issue before us in that the statute therein treated the right as automatically abandoned as a result of 10 years' nonuse, without consideration of other needs and uses of the water in the stream system. The statute therefore was inconsistent with the mandate of the amendment to promote the reasonable beneficial use of state waters.
(7) It is well established that what is a reasonable use of water varies with the facts and circumstances of the particular case. (Tulare, at p. 567 of 3 Cal.2d; Gin S. Chow v. City of Santa Barbara, supra, 217 Cal. 673, 706.) And it appears self-evident that the reasonableness of a riparian use cannot be determined without considering the effect of such use on all the needs of those in the stream system (Tulare, at p. 524 of 3 Cal.2d), nor can it be made "in vacuo isolated from statewide considerations of transcendent importance." (Joslin v. Marin Mun. Water Dist. (1967) 67 Cal.2d 132, 140 [60 Cal. Rptr. 377, 429 P.2d 889].) These statewide considerations are that "limited water resources be put only to those beneficial uses `to the fullest extent of which they are capable,' that `waste or unreasonable use' be prevented, and that conservation be exercised `in the interest of the people and for the public welfare.' (Cal. Const., art. XIV, § 3 [now art. X, § 2].)" (Id., at p. 141.) Thus, we have concluded that there can no longer be any property right in the unreasonable use of water. (Id., at p. 145.) In light of these considerations, it is clear that Ramelli's extravagant reading of our decision in Tulare to strike down section 11 of the Water Commission Act would unduly restrict the Legislature's authority to promote the reasonable and beneficial use of state waters and thereby would contravene article X, section 2.
This conclusion is supported by compelling policy considerations. The Legislature has enacted a comprehensive administrative scheme for the final determination of all rights in a stream system. (Wat. Code, § 2500 et seq.) The statutory adjudication procedure involves a complex balancing of both public and private interests, with the final decree assuring certainty to the existing economy and reasonable predictability to the uses of water in a stream system. In so doing, it falls within the amendment's specific grant of authority to the Legislature. (Cal. Const., art. X, § 2.) That the statutory adjudication procedure promotes the policies of the *355 amendment is reflected in a recent report of the Governor's Commission To Review California Water Rights Law. (Final Rep. (Dec. 1978).) This document identifies uncertainty as one of the major problems in contemporary California water rights law (id., at pp. 16-49), and it discloses that riparian rights are a principal source of this uncertainty. (Id., at pp. 18-21.)[10]
Uncertainty concerning the rights of water users has pernicious effects. Initially, it inhibits long range planning and investment for the development and use of waters in a stream system. (Robie & Steinberg, Existing Water Laws and Industry Practices: Their Contribution to the Waste of Water (1977) 53 L.A. Bar J. 164, 171-172; Governor's Com. to Review Cal. Water Rights Law, Final Rep. (Dec. 1978) supra, at p. 16.) Thus with respect to dormant riparian rights, one authority has observed: "These rights constitute the main threat to nonriparian and out-of-watershed development, they are the principal cause of insecurity of existing riparian uses, and their presence adds greatly to the cost of obtaining firm water rights under a riparian system. They are unrecorded, their quantity is unknown, their administration in the courts provides very little opportunity for control in the public interest. To the extent that they may deter others from using the water for fear of their ultimate exercise, they are wasteful, in the sense of costing the economy the benefits lost from the deterred uses." (Trelease, A Model State Water Code for River Basin Development (1957) 22 Law & Contemp. Prob. 301, 318; see also Milliman, Water Law and Private Decision-making: A Critique (1959) 2 J. Law & Econ. 41, 47.)
Uncertainty also fosters recurrent, costly and piecemeal litigation. In the present case, for example, there has been incessant litigation between the claimants to the waters of the stream system since about 1883. And, as the Board engineer observed, the inconclusive fragmentary definition of *356 water rights resulting from that litigation was "the prime reason for the proposed adjudication." The principal cause of this untoward effect appears to be that a private suit for determining title to water binds only those who are parties to the suit; such suits are inadequate, however, because shortages in supply or new appropriations or riparian uses have the potential for bringing all water users on the stream in conflict. (Governor's Com. To Review Cal. Water Rights Law, Final Rep. (Dec. 1978) supra, at p. 22.)[11]
Finally, uncertainty impairs the state's administration of water rights. "Lack of knowledge of water use by non-statutory right holders affects decisions to grant permits, because the availability of water for appropriation and the existence and extent of other beneficial uses of water are uncertain. It also affects the ability of the Board to set meaningful terms and conditions to provide effective enforcement and protection of statutory water rights." (Id., at p. 22.)[12]
These pernicious effects of uncertainty provide strong support for the conclusions of the Governor's Commission To Review California Water *357 Rights Law, that comprehensive determination of water rights has salutary results because it (1) provides "valuable information for water rights administration and for planning purposes," (2) "prevents recurrent litigation and gives the certainty of official recognition to private property rights," and (3) creates "the basis for the orderly control and management of water on a stream." (Id., at p. 28.)[13] Thus, we find unpersuasive Ramelli's argument that Tulare should be read as prohibiting the Board from defining or otherwise limiting future riparian rights.
B
(8) A more difficult question is whether the Board may constitutionally extinguish a riparian landowner's unexercised claim to the use of water. The Attorney General has not presented a persuasive argument for concluding that complete extinction of such rights is necessary to the promotion of the reasonable and beneficial use of a stream system, nor has he established in this case that the reasonable and beneficial use of the waters in the Long Valley Creek cannot be equally well promoted by placing limitations on Ramelli's future riparian right other than complete extinction. Indeed, when the Attorney General was asked at oral argument to explain why it was necessary to extinguish Ramelli's future claim rather than to promote state policy by imposing other less drastic limitations such as the quantification of the future right, or assigning to it a lower priority than all present and future actual reasonable beneficial uses made prior to the riparian's attempted use he responded, "the facts of this case ... don't show any reasonable possibility whatsoever that any uses on Ramelli's land would be more reasonable than the uses which are currently in existence, and under these circumstances I think it's appropriate for the State Board to look at the geography, the soil type, the historical uses and to accept that as a reasonable basis for its order of determination."
The Attorney General's purported justification is dubious in light of Tulare. It is true that Tulare is distinguishable from this case; in Tulare *358 the Legislature had enacted a blanket extinction of unexercised riparian rights when there was no basis for concluding that such an extinction was consistent with the promotion of the reasonable and beneficial use of state waters. In light of Tulare's holding that section 11 of the Water Commission Act was unconstitutional, however, we are reluctant to conclude that the Board may altogether extinguish a riparian's future claim when it has not been established that the imposition of other less drastic limitations on the claim would be less effective in promoting the most reasonable and beneficial use of the stream system. Because no such showing has been made in this case, it is clear that the Board's decision to extinguish Ramelli's future riparian claim raises a serious constitutional issue. Thus, since the Legislature has not clearly expressed an intention that the statute should be construed otherwise (see fn. 5, ante), we interpret it as not authorizing the Board in these circumstances to extinguish altogether Ramelli's claim to the future use of waters in the Long Valley stream system.[14]
(9) For the future guidance of the Board, however, we undertake to identify the limitations on unexercised riparian claims that are constitutionally permissible and thus authorized by the statute in light of our analysis herein. As previously discussed, when the Board determines all rights to the use of the water in a stream system, an important interest of the state is the promotion of clarity and certainty in the definition of those rights; such clarity and certainty foster more beneficial and efficient uses of state waters as called for by the mandate of article X, section 2. Thus, the Board is authorized to decide that an unexercised riparian claim loses *359 its priority with respect to all rights currently being exercised. Moreover, to the extent that an unexercised riparian right may also create uncertainty with respect to permits of appropriation that the Board may grant after the statutory adjudication procedure is final, and may thereby continue to conflict with the public interest in reasonable and beneficial use of state waters, the Board may also determine that the future riparian right shall have a lower priority than any uses of water it authorizes before the riparian in fact attempts to exercise his right. (10) (See fn. 15.) In other words, while we interpret the Water Code as not authorizing the Board to extinguish altogether a future riparian right, the Board may make determinations as to the scope, nature and priority of the right that it deems reasonably necessary to the promotion of the state's interest in fostering the most reasonable and beneficial use of its scarce water resources.[15]
II
Ramelli also contends that a prior judgment involving several claimants to the waters of Balls Creek Evans v. Flagg, Sierra County Super. Ct. No. 2809) is res judicata in this proceeding, and that the Board and trial court erred in failing to recognize the water rights as declared in that judgment.
(11) It is well settled that a judgment is res judicata only against persons who were parties or in privity with parties thereto. (Bernhard v. Bank of America (1942) 19 Cal.2d 807, 812 [122 P.2d 892].) Thus, for example, we have held that the Attorney General may bring an action in declaratory relief to determine whether a society held its assets for *360 charitable purposes, despite a prior determination between the society and one of its members that the assets were not held for such purposes. (In re L.A. County Pioneer Society (1953) 40 Cal.2d 852, 857 [257 P.2d 1].)
(12) As previously discussed, the decree herein arises from a statutory proceeding by the Board for the determination of all rights to the use of the waters in a stream system. It results in a final and comprehensive determination of such rights in light of what constitutes a reasonable beneficial use under article X, section 2, and consequently it necessarily involves considerations that transcend those at stake in a private dispute between a limited number of parties. Moreover, as is apparent from these facts, a principal reason for the employment of such a procedure is the inconclusive and fragmentary nature of private water rights litigation. We therefore conclude the trial court was correct in rejecting Ramelli's assertion that the prior Evans v. Flagg judgment should be accorded res judicata effect. The Board was not a party in that action, nor did the judgment reflect the transcendent interests that must be considered in a comprehensive statutory adjudication proceeding.
The judgment is reversed for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Bird, C.J., Tobriner, J., and Newman, J., concurred.
RICHARDSON, J., Concurring and Dissenting.
I concur in the majority opinion to the extent that it reverses the trial court's judgment upholding a decision of the state Water Resources Control Board (Board) which entirely extinguished appellant's prospective riparian rights. I respectfully dissent, however, from that portion of the opinion which upholds the Board's authority to limit or "quantify" those prospective rights or to declare them subordinate to existing uses. It is my view that longstanding provisions of the state Constitution (art. X, § 2, formerly art. XIV, § 3) forbid the limitation, quantification or subordination of a riparian owner's prospective rights until he seeks to exercise those rights. While the applicable principles of law are fully and fairly stated in the majority opinion, unfortunately they are not applied to the facts of the present case.
As we explained many years ago, prior to November 1928, a riparian owner such as appellant was entitled to all of the waters of an adjoining *361 stream "regardless of any waste or surplus that might result from the exercise of such a right and regardless of any rule of reasonable use." (Peabody v. City of Vallejo (1935) 2 Cal.2d 351, 363 [40 P.2d 486]; see Tulare Dist. v. Lindsay-Strathmore Dist. (1935) 3 Cal.2d 489, 524 [45 P.2d 972] [describing the former riparian right as a "vested property right"].) This riparian right was modified or limited in 1928 in one substantial respect by the adoption of former article XIV, section 3. Thereafter, riparian rights, and all other water rights, were (and presently are) limited to the use of such water as shall be reasonably required for the beneficial use to be served; these rights do not extend to the waste of water nor to any other unreasonable use or diversion of water. (Peabody, supra, at pp. 366-367; Tulare, supra, at pp. 524-525; see also Hutchins, The Cal. Law of Water Rights (1956) at pp. 12-16, 230-234; 1 Rogers & Nichols, Water for Cal. (1967) §§ 176 at p. 241, 341 at pp. 478-479 and fn. 1.)
Notwithstanding the announcement of the foregoing restrictions, former article XIV, section 3, reaffirmed the existence and continued vitality of prospective riparian rights, for it also provided that "Riparian rights in a stream or water course attach to, but to no more than so much of the flow thereof as may be required or used consistently with this section, for the purposes for which such lands are, or may be made adaptable, in view of such reasonable and beneficial uses; provided, however, that nothing herein contained shall be construed as depriving any riparian owner of the reasonable use of water of the stream to which the owner's land is riparian under reasonable methods of diversion and use...." (Italics added.)
Thus, with the proviso that any present use be reasonable and beneficial rather than wasteful, the 1928 provision preserved the riparian owner's present and prospective right of use. As the majority opinion itself expressly acknowledges, "... this court has recognized that ... the rights of a riparian owner are not destroyed or impaired by the fact that he has not yet used the water upon his riparian lands, and therefore that the riparian right exists, whether exercised or not [citations]...." (Ante, p. 347.) The precise extent of the constitutional protection afforded to riparian owners was carefully and unequivocally described by us in Tulare Dist. v. Lindsay-Strathmore Dist., supra, 3 Cal.2d 489, 524-526, and in a substantial body of law expressed in an unbroken line of cases which have followed or approved its holding.
In Tulare, decided seven years after the adoption of the constitutional provision discussed above, we reversed a trial court judgment which had