Jordan v. Board of Supervisors

MUSSELL, J.

Plaintiffs, as taxpayers of Tulare County, brought this action to enjoin the Board of Supervisors of Tulare County from erecting and constructing a new county courthouse on a tract of land outside of the present corporate limits of the city of Visalia and to restrain the county auditor and treasurer from expending any county funds in so doing. The action was tried before the court without a jury and plaintiffs appeal from the judgment rendered against them.

The county of Tulare was organized under the provisions of chapter 153 of the Statutes of 1852 and section 2 of that statute established the seat of justice of the county temporaria at Woodsville. In 1853 the Legislature enacted chapter 46 of the Statutes of 1853 which provided in part that at the next general election the permanent location of the seat of justice of Tulare County should be submitted to the voters. At the next general election, held on September 7,1853, there were 44 votes cast for Visalia and 41 for Woods-ville. At the time of this election, Visalia had no definite designated boundaries and the area embraced by it was unincorporated.

On December 9, 1853, the supervisors took possession of a quarter section of land at Visalia and appointed it the seat of justice of the county of Tulare. In August of 1857 the supervisors selected this quarter section as a site for the

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county seat and caused the land to be laid out and divided into town lots. This is the quarter section upon which the present courthouse, erected in 1857, is now located.

On September 28, 1948, a contract was executed between the Hyde Development Company and the county of Tulare for the construction of a new county courthouse on a site approximately 1

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miles west of the present courthouse on property adjacent to the present city limits of the city of Visalia. This contract was cancelled by agreement of the parties on May 5, 1950, and the question of its legality has become moot. However, it is conceded that unless restrained, the county of Tulare will proceed to build a courthouse on the new site (which has been deeded to the county) without submitting the proposition to the electors at a general election as provided in article XI, section 2, of the state Constitution. This section provides that “No county seat shall be removed unless two-thirds of the qualified electors of the county, voting on the proposition at a general election, shall vote in favor of such removal. ...”