California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from Great Oaks Water Co. v. Santa Clara Valley Water Dist., 15 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 13, 196 Cal.Rptr.3d 171, 2015 Daily Journal D.A.R. 13, 242 Cal.App.4th 1187 (Cal. App. 2015):
More basically, however, it appears that an appropriative right, in and of itself, is a kind of real property for at least some purposes, whether or not it is appurtenant to a particular dominant estate. (See Wright v. Best, supra, 19 Cal.2d at p. 380, 121 P.2d 702 [a water right by appropriation is independent of ownership and possession of land and subject to sale separately from it]; id. at p. 381, 121 P.2d 702 [party's predecessor was the owner of an appropriative right, severable and alienable from the land to which it is appurtenant]; id. at p. 382, 121 P.2d 702 [An appropriative right constitutes an interest in realty.... It can therefore appropriately serve as a servient estate to which an easement may be annexed.].)
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