PRIOR-APPROPRIATION DOCTRINE

prior-appropriation doctrine. The rule that, among the persons whose properties border on a waterway, the earliest users of the water have the right to take all they can use before anyone else has a right to it. Cf. RIPARIAN-RIGHTS DOCTRINE . [Cases: Waters and Water Courses 140. C.J.S. Waters §§ 376, 380, 391–393.]

[Blacks Law 8th]