in a manner that harmed the public trust interests. However, the court also recognized that LA depended on these diversions as a critical water source, and this in turn mitigated the rule of law as the court held that water transfers were permissible even though some damage to the environment would occur as long as this was kept to minimal harm to the extent feasible. This ruling established that the public trust doctrine and appropriative water rights are "part of an integrated system of water law" and so both must be considered when determining appropriate use of water in California. Case summary In 1979, the National Audubon Society, Mono Lake Committee, and others (Audubon) filed a suit against City of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power DWP to suppress their diversion of the four tributaries that originally supplied Mono Lake with water from Sierra snowmelt. The public trust doctrine is the cornerstone and crux of this court case; the doctrine originates from Roman law and has persisted throughout European and English Common law. The Institutes of Justinian from the Sixth Century A.D. stated: by the law of nature these things are common to mankind -the air, running water, the sea and consequently the shores of the sea. Spanish and Mexican law also recognizes the public trust doctrine; the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo guarantees these rights in California. Thus, the public trust doctrine is a philosophical and realized extension of the concept of communal property, which belongs to the people and is to be held in a trust by the government. The public trust doctrine holds that our water, fish, and wildlife are shared resources to be held in an exalted position, above that of any industrial, commercial, or private uses in any administrative or judicial review of water allocation, and establishes that the government must uphold and protect this trusteeship as a moral obligation. Audubon's original complaint, filed with the Superior Court of Mono County, asserted the diversions were a violation of the public trust doctrine, were both a public and private nuisance, and a violation of California State Constitution Article X, Section 4 & Article XVI, Section 6, which respectively prohibit obstruction of navigable waters and gifts by the state of a state asset. The suit attempted to establish Public Trust rights in Mono Basin, and sought declaratory and injunctive relief. This case eventually reached the Supreme Court