All persons interested in a common ditch or acequia, be they owners or lessees, shall labor thereon in proportion to their land. It is their duty when called upon by the mayordomo to assist him in stopping breaks in, or removing obstructions from, any such common ditch or acequia, regardless of whether or not they have performed their annual labor thereupon, and failure to respond to such call is a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof the defendant shall be fined in a sum not less than twenty-five dollars ($25.00) nor more than fifty dollars ($50.00), and shall be denied the use of waters of the ditch or acequia until the fine and costs are paid.

History: Laws 1851-1852, p. 189, § 5; C.L. 1865, ch. 1, § 5; C.L. 1884, § 35; C.L. 1897, § 32; Laws 1903, ch. 44, § 4; Code 1915, § 5759; C.S. 1929, § 151-429; 1941 Comp., § 77-1430; 1953 Comp., § 75-14-31; Laws 1977, ch. 184, § 4.

Cross references. — For other sanctions for not working, see 73-2-25 and 73-2-26 NMSA 1978.

For penalty for abandoning work, see 73-2-37 NMSA 1978.

For provisions applicable to certain counties, see 73-3-5 to 73-3-7 NMSA 1978.

The 1977 amendment substituted the present section heading for "Labor to be in proportion to land - Additional labor - Penalty for failure to respond - Use of water denied" and, in the last sentence, substituted "It is" for "And it shall be" at the beginning, substituted "is" for "shall be deemed" preceding "a misdemeanor," substituted "twenty-five dollars ($25.00) nor more than fifty dollars ($50.00)" for "five dollars ($5.00) nor more than fifteen dollars ($15.00)," inserted "or acequia" following "ditch" near the end of the sentence and made other minor changes in phraseology and punctuation.

Domestic use may not be considered. — The domestic use is so small, when compared to the other use to which water is applied by the appropriator, that the legislature possibly did not take such use into consideration in regulating labor to be performed upon the ditches. State ex rel. Cmty. Ditches v. Tularosa Cmty. Ditch, 1914-NMSC-069, 19 N.M. 352, 143 P. 207.

Bylaw invalid. — Bylaw of ditch company which provides that those farther from the inlet contribute a greater portion for repairs than those nearer is invalid. State ex rel. Black v. Aztec Ditch Co., 1919-NMSC-057, 25 N.M. 590, 185 P. 549.