## Facts

- Perry N. Johnson owned land abutting two small, landlocked, nonmeandered inland lakes; about 5% of each lake’s surface lay over his property.
- Frank L. Seifert and another neighboring owner held most of the surrounding shoreline and much of the lakebeds; there was no public access to either lake.
- The lakes were nonnavigable; one was used for fishing and recreation, and the other for duck hunting.
- Defendants built a fence along the parties’ boundary line, extending through both lakes, to prevent Johnson from reaching the larger portions of the lakes’ surfaces.
- Johnson sued in equity to enjoin (1) the fence across the lakes and (2) defendants’ withdrawal of lake water for irrigation.
- The trial court ruled that each owner had complete and exclusive control of the waters overlying that owner’s portion of the privately owned lakebed, treated Johnson’s use beyond his bed segment as trespass, and upheld irrigation as reasonable if it did not materially harm Johnson by changing lake levels.

## Issues

1. Whether a riparian owner on a private, nonnavigable inland lake has the right to use the lake over its entire surface in common with other riparian owners, regardless of lakebed ownership.
2. Whether private ownership of the lakebed permits each owner to exclude other riparian owners from the surface waters above that owner’s bed segment.
3. Whether defendants’ withdrawal of lake water for irrigation is permissible under riparian reasonable-use limits.

## Decision

- The Minnesota Supreme Court reversed the judgment insofar as it denied Johnson a common right to use the entire surface of the lakes with other riparian owners.
- The court rejected the trial court’s rule that water above each owner’s bed segment is subject to that owner’s complete and exclusive control such that another riparian’s presence is trespass.
- The court confirmed that withdrawals for irrigation are not categorically barred but are governed by reasonable use and may be limited if they materially impair other riparian owners’ rights, including shared recreational and domestic uses of the lake surface.

## Legal Principles

- Riparian rights on a private, nonnavigable lake include a common, correlative right among abutting owners to use the entire lake surface for ordinary purposes (e.g., boating, fishing, hunting, swimming, and watering livestock).
- The scope of riparian surface-use rights does not turn on whether the lake is navigable or on which riparian owner holds title to particular portions of the lakebed.
- Conflicts among riparian owners are resolved by a reasonable-use standard; a riparian use is unlawful if it unreasonably interferes with or materially harms other riparians’ corresponding rights, including by materially altering lake levels.

## Conclusion

The court held that riparian owners on private, nonnavigable lakes share common rights to use the entire lake surface for ordinary recreational and domestic uses, rejecting a segmented, exclusive-control theory based on lakebed ownership, and applying a reasonable-use limit to water withdrawals such as irrigation.


Johnson v. Seifert, 100 N.W.2d 689 (Minn. 1960)