Hinderlider v. La Plata River & Cherry Creek Ditch Co.

Hinderlider v. La Plata River & Cherry Creek Ditch Co.
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued January 31, 1938 Decided April 25, 1938
Full case name	Hinderlider v. La Plata River & Cherry Creek Ditch Co.
Citations	304 U.S. 92 (more)
Holding
Federal common law applies to resolve water rights governed by an interstate compact.
Court membership
Chief Justice Charles E. Hughes Associate Justices James C. McReynolds · Louis Brandeis Pierce Butler · Harlan F. Stone Owen J. Roberts · Benjamin N. Cardozo Hugo Black · Stanley F. Reed
Case opinions
Majority	Brandeis

Hinderlider v. La Plata River & Cherry Creek Ditch Co., 304 U.S. 92 (1938), is a US Supreme Court case that said a "general common law" or "general federal common law" no longer exists in the American legal system and is unconstitutional. However, federal courts retain the power to create federal common law in specific areas related to federal rights and interests.^[1]

Facts

This dispute revolved around diverting water from the La Plata River, a tributary to the Colorado River.

Significance

An archetypical example of such federal common law is that relating to disputes between states of the United States. Hinderlider was the first case to reaffirm the existence of federal common law for other purposes, specifically here, the interpretation of an interstate compact governing water rights between states.^[2]

References

1. Erwin Chemerinsky, Federal Jurisdiction (5th ed. 2007), Aspen Publishers, p. 365-366.
2. Chemerinsky, p. 385-386.

See also

• List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 304