DRAINAGE DISTRICT. The organiza tion of a drainage district is within the pow er of the state; Hagar, v. Reclamation Dist, 111 U. S. 701, 4 Sup. Ct. 663, 28 L. Ed. 569; for the exclusive benefit of the territory within the district; Commissioners of Union Drainage Dist. No. 3 v. Com'rs, 220 Ill. 176, 77 N. E. 71; and the lands within the district may be assessed to pay the entire cost, on the theory that they alone are benefited; Bradbury v. Drainage Dist., 236 Ill. 36, 86 N. E. 163, 19 L. R. A. (N. S.) 991, 15 Ann. Cas. 904. It is correct to say that a drain age district is a quasi-corporation, if the act under which it is organized does not make it a corporation in fact ; but it is not created for political purposes or for the ad ministration of civil government. It is not liable for the unauthorized acts of its com missioners, 'but the district has the power of eminent domain for the purposes of its organization; Bradbury v. Drainage. Dist.,
236 Ill. 36, 86 N. E. 163, 19 L. R. A. (N. S.) 991, 15 Ann. Cas. 904. They have been class ed as municipal corporations; Commissioners of Havana Tp. Drainage Dist. No. 1 v. Kel sey, 120 Ill. 482, 11 N. E. 256.
Where, in the construction of a levee, an upper owner was damaged by having the water thrown back on his lands, and there was no negligence on the part of the district in the performance of the work, he could not recover ; Bradbury v. Drainage Dist., 236 Ill. 36, 86 N. E. 163, 19 L. R. A. (N. S.) 991, 15 Ann. Cas. 904; Lamb v. Reclamation Dist., 73 Cal. 125, 14 Pac. 625, 2 Am. St. Rep. 775 (where a lower owner was damag ed by overflow, caused by the necessary work of a reclamation district). See Pozicz POWER ; ASSESSMENT ; RIVERS.