The Colorado Doctrine

By David Schorr

Making extensive use of archival and other primary sources, David Schorr demonstrates that the development of the "appropriation doctrine," a system of private rights in water, was part of a radical attack on monopoly and corporate power in the arid West. Schorr describes how Colorado miners, irrigators, lawmakers, and judges forged a system of private property in water based on a desire to spread property and its benefits as widely as possible among independent citizens. He demonstrates that ownership was not dictated by concerns for economic efficiency, but by a regard for social justice.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0300134479
• ISBN13: 9780300134476
• Release Date: November 2012
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.2" x 9.3"