Shea v. Kerr

SHENK, J.

Mandamus

to compel the respondent Registrar of Voters to omit from the ballot to be used at the ensuing general election the name of Daniel S. Sorey as a candidate for justice of the peace of El Monte Township in Los Angeles County.

At the primary election held August 28, 1934, Sorey and eleven others were candidates for said office. Sorey received the highest number of votes, but did not receive a majority of all votes east for the office. It is alleged in the petition that El Monte Township contains a population of over 30,000; that Sorey has not been admitted to the practice of law in this state; that he was not holding the office of justice of the peace of said township at any time during the year 1929; and that, if elected, he would not be eligible to hold said office under the provisions of section 4185a of the Political Code, and section 159a of the Code of Civil Procedure, and under the authority of

Felt

v.

Waughop,

193 Cal. 498 [225 Pac. 862], and other eases to like effect.

The respondent has interposed a general demurrer to the petition and an answer in which it is alleged, and is not disputed, that according to the federal census of 1930 the population of said township is 26,334. At the hearing it was stipulated that the population of the township, by reason of its recent consolidation with two other townships, is in fact in excess of 30,000.

In 1929 section 112 of the Code of Civil Procedure was amended to increase the jurisdiction of justices’ courts in townships of over 30,000 population. No method was prescribed by the legislature for the ascertainment of such population. This court, in October, 1929, exercising its original jurisdiction in a

mandamus

proceeding and by a reference determined the fact as to certain townships in

[606]

Los Angeles County.

(County of Los Angeles