38 M.R.S. § 651

This is the official text of 38 M.R.S. § 651, part of Maine’s M.R.S — part of the compiled statutory law of Maine, published by the state as "M.R.S." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.

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38 §651. Milldams and canals

Official statutory text

Any person may on the person's own land erect and maintain a watermill and dams to raise water for working it, upon and across any stream not navigable; or, for the purpose of propelling mills or machinery, may cut a canal and erect walls and embankments upon the person's own land, not exceeding one mile in length, and thereby divert from its natural channel the water of any stream not navigable, upon the terms and conditions and subject to the regulations hereinafter expressed. [RR 2021, c. 2, Pt. B, §245 (COR).]

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.