Great Plains Studies, Center for
Date of this Version
1988
Abstract
One hallmark of economic development, and indeed of civilization itself, may be found in the rules men devise to order their access to resources. When ambitious men began to develop the West, they found English common law deficient in many respects. It failed to provide workable rules among men as they struggled to get, develop, and use water where water was relatively scarce and often vital to life itself. So new laws and new institutions had to be developed. They are still developing. 1
Comments
Published in Great Plains Quarterly [GPQ 8 (Winter 1988): 38-44]. Copyright 1988 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska—Lincoln.