LUNOD VS MENESES Facts: - 14th of March, 1904, Nicolas Lunod, et.al.

, alleging that they each owned and possessed farm lands, situated in the places known as Maytunas and alot, near a small lake named !alalaran" that the defendant #igino Meneses, is the owner of a fish-pond and a strip of land situated in $araanan, ad%oining the said lake on one side, and the &i'er (aliptip on the other" that from time immemorial, and conse)uently for more than twenty years *efore 1901, there e+isted and still e+ists in fa'or of the rice fields of the plaintiffs a statutory easement permitting the flow of water o'er the said land in $araanan, which easement the said plaintiffs en%oyed until the year 1901 and consisted in that the water collected upon their lands and in the !alalaran Lake flow through $araanan into the (aliptip &i'er. ,rom that year howe'er, the defendant, without any right or reason, con'erted the land in $araanan into a fishpond and *y means of a dam and a *am*oo net, pre'ented the free passage of the water through said place into the (aliptip &i'er, that in conse)uence the lands of the plaintiff *ecame flooded and damaged *y the stagnant waters, (hey therefore asked that %udgment *e entered against the defendant, declaring that the said tract of land in $araanan is su*%ect to a statutory easement permitting the flow of water from the property of the plaintiffs, Meneses denied each and e'eryone of the allegations of the complaint, and alleged that no statutory easement e+isted nor could e+ist in fa'or of the lands descri*ed in the complaint, permitting the waters to flow o'er the fish pond that he, together with his *rothers, owned in the sitio of am*ang, the area and *oundaries of which were stated *y him, and which he and his *rothers had inherited from their deceased mother. Held: -pon the e'idence adduced *y *oth parties to the suit, the court, on the 1.th of March, 190/, entered %udgment declaring that the plaintiffs were entitled to a decision in their fa'or, and sentenced the defendant to remo'e the dam placed on the east of the $araanan passage on the side of the (aliptip &i'er opposite the old dam in the *arrio of am*ang, as well as to remo'e and destroy the o*stacles to the free passage of the waters through the strip of land in $araanan Ratio: - It appears to ha'e *een clearly pro'en in this case that the lands owned *y the plaintiffs in the aforesaid *arrio, as well as the small ad%oining lake, named !alalaran, are located in places relati'ely higher than the sitio called $araanan where the land and fish pond of the defendant are situated, and which *order on the (aliptip &i'er" that during the rainy season the rain water which falls on he land of the plaintiffs, and which flows toward the small !alalaran Lake at flood time, has no outlet to the (aliptip &i'er other than through the low land of $araanan0 that the *order line *etween !alalaran and $araanan there has e+isted from time immemorial a dam, constructed *y the community for the purpose of pre'enting the salt waters from the (aliptip &i'er, at high tide, from flooding the land in !alalaran, passing through the lowlands of $araanan According to article 53 o! t"e #i$il #ode% an easement is charge imposed upon one estate for the *enefit of another estate *elonging to a different owner, and the realty in fa'or of which the easement is esta*lished is called the dominant estate, and the one charged with it the ser'ient estate. (he lands of $araanan *eing the lower are su*%ect to the easement of recei'ing and gi'ing passage to the waters proceeding from the higher lands and the lake of !alalaran" this easement was not constituted *y agreement *etween the interested parties" it is of a statutory nature, and the law had imposed it for the common pu*lic utility in 'iew of the difference in the altitude of the lands in the *arrio am*ang. Article 55& o! t"e #i$il code 'ro$ides: Lower estates must recei'e the waters which naturally and without the inter'ention of man descend from the higher estates, as well as the stone or earth which they carry with them. Neither may the owner of the lower estates construct works pre'enting this easement, nor the one of the higher estate works increasing the *urden. (he special law cited in the Law of 1aters of 2ugust ., 1344, article 111 of which, treating of natural

easements relating to waters, pro'ides0 Lands situated at a lower le'el are su*%ect to recei'e the waters that flow naturally, without the work of man, from the higher lands together with the stone or earth which they carry with them. (he defendant Meneses might ha'e constructed the works necessary to make and maintain a fish pond within his own land, *ut he was always under the strict and necessary o*ligation to respect the statutory easement of waters charged upon his property, and had no right to close the passage and outlet of the waters flowing from the lands of the plaintiffs and the lake of !alalaran into the (aliptip &i'er. #e could not lawfully in%ure the owners of the dominant estates *y o*structing the outlet to the (aliptip &i'er of the waters flooding the upper lands *elonging to the plaintiffs.