Baumbaugh v. County of San Diego

MARKS, J.

This is an appeal from a judgment ordering that a writ of mandate issue directing the county of San Diego and certain of its officers to give plaintiff the one thousand dollar exemption on his property provided for in section

1%

of article XIII of the Constitution.

The facts are not in dispute. Plaintiff enlisted in the United States Navy on November 20, 1932. On April 19, 1934, he was released from the service under honorable conditions because of a service connected disability and on June 28, 1934, he was awarded a pension ‘ ‘ on account of disability resulting from peace-time service”.

Petitioner and his wife own property of a value less than $5,000. It consists of real estate and improvements having an assessed value of $1610, and personal property having an assessed value of $100. Petitioner took all the legal steps necessary to secure the exemption if he were entitled to it.

The sole question presented for decision is this: Is petitioner entitled to his exemption, he not having served during time of war, but having served during time of peace and having been released from the service under honorable conditions because of a service connected disability?

We are not cited to any case deciding this question. It was not presented, considered nor decided in

Kaiser

v.

Hopkins,

6 Cal. (2d) 537 [58 Pac. (2d) 1278]. This ease merely determined when the war of 1917-1918 ended.

Chesney

v.

Byram,

15 Cal. (2d) 460 [101 Pac. (2d) 1106], merely holds that a veteran must follow the provisions of section 3612 of the Political Code in order to obtain his exemption.

Section 1% of article XIII of the Constitution was first adopted at an election held in 1911. The pertinent provisions then read: “The property to the amount of one thousand dollars of every resident in this state who has served in the army, navy, marine corps, or revenue marine service of

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