COMMON-ENEMY DOCTRINE

common-enemy doctrine. Property. The rule that a landowner may repel surface waters as necessary (as during a flood), without having to consider the consequences to other landowners. • The doctrine takes its name from the idea that the floodwater is every landowner’s common enemy. [Cases: Waters and Water Courses 116–119. C.J.S. Waters §§ 255, 259–264, […]