State ex rel. Martinez v. City of Las Vegas: The Misuse of History and Precedent in the Abolition of the Pueblo Water Rights Doctrine in New Mexico

摘要

The pueblo water rights doctrine permits a municipality that was originally founded as either a Spanish or Mexican colonization pueblo to appropriate unlimited water from adjacent watercourses in order to meet the needs of a growing population. Of uncertain historical validity, the doctrine was first recognized by the New Mexico Supreme Court in 1958 and then repudiated in the 2004 case of State ex rel. Martinez v. City of Las Vegas. That opinion, while purporting to base its rejection of the doctrine on prior New Mexico water law, is founded on conflicting views of history and an inconsistent application of the doctrine of stare decisis. In a state like New Mexico, where water is scarce and rights to water are valuable, the abrogation of such an important property right called for a clear and consistent rationale. Instead, State ex rel. Martinez v. City of Las Vegas shies away from the court's responsibility to evaluate historical fact, makes unprincipled use of prior case law, and rests upon the authority of the genre of the judicial opinion and the power of the state rather than on sound reasoning.