Every corporation and company, whether created by special act or organized under the general incorporation laws of this state, and every partnership or any persons who own or control any canal or ditch, or any part thereof, being two feet in width or over and carrying water to the depth of twelve inches or over, which canal or ditch, or any part thereof, is within the corporate limits of any city with a population of seventy thousand or more or any city existing by special charter of a population equal to or exceeding seventy thousand, or any of the additions thereto, at their own expense, shall safely and securely lattice or slat the head of any flume or covering of the canal or ditch with proper materials, so that persons or animals cannot accidentally enter such flume or covering at the head thereof and pass or be carried down the current of the canal or ditch, and they shall thereafter maintain and keep the same in good order and repair at their own cost and expense.
Source: L. 1887: p. 66, § 2. R.S. 08: § 3242. C.L. § 1723. CSA: C. 90, § 121. CRS 53: § 147-7-11. C.R.S. 1963: § 148-7-10. L. 72: p. 621, § 166.
ANNOTATION
This section is constitutional. Platte & Denver Canal & Milling Co. v. Dowell, 17 Colo. 376, 30 P. 68 (1892).
This section is general and applies to all canals of the dimensions specified, and there is nothing upon its face to indicate that the members of the general assembly thought at the time of its enactment of any particular canal. Platte & Denver Canal & Milling Co. v. Dowell, 17 Colo. 376, 30 P. 68 (1892).
This section does not forbid or attempt to interfere with the use of a canal in carrying on appellant's business, and it does not undertake to deprive appellant of its property or the enjoyment thereof, because appellant can without injury to the usefulness of the canal so maintain it as not to endanger the safety of life and property; and, as already in effect suggested, it has no constitutional right to perpetuate this danger. Platte & Denver Canal & Milling Co. v. Dowell, 17 Colo. 376, 30 P. 68 (1892).
The failure of appellant to perform its statutory duty was negligence per se, and no contributory negligence being shown, appellees were entitled to recover. Platte & Denver Canal & Milling Co. v. Dowell, 17 Colo. 376, 30 P. 68 (1892).
Applied in Montoya v. Bessemer Irrigating Ditch Co., 42 Colo. App. 238, 592 P.2d 24 (1979).