Muwatta 2053

Malik says of a spring owned by two men, whose water has stopped, when one of them wishes to work on the spring, and the other says: I do not have anything to work with. It is said to the one who wishes to work on the spring: work and spend, and the whole water will be yours, and you may water with it until your partner brings half what you spent. When he brings half of what you spent, he takes his share of the water. Malik said: I give the first the whole water, because he spent; if he had got nothing from his work, the other would owe nothing of the expense. ¹

Belongs to the Muwatta, Book of Irrigation Partnership (musaqat). Source: the Muwatta. Mentions Malik ibn Anas. Built on in the chapters on irrigation partnership (musaqat).