Hollywood Union High School District v. Keyes

THE COURT.

The petition discloses that the trustees of the Hollywood Union High School District heretofore, acting under section 1745 of the Political Code as enacted in 1909 (Stats. 1909, pp. 488, 489), gave notice to the taxpayers of the time and place for an election at which was to be determined the question of the issuance of bonds for purposes within the statute. This notice, it is conceded, contained all of the matters required by the section above stated, excepting that, in respect of interest, the notice provided that the bonds, which should be of the denomination of $1,000 each, “shall bear interest at the rate of four and one-half per cent

per annum,”

whereas the statute provides that the notice shall designate “the rate of interest, not exceeding six per cent per annum, payable annually or semi-annually.” It is the contention of respondent that the position of the county clerk, whose refusal to attest the bonds is the subject of this writ, is well taken, for the reason that the omission to designate the times of payment of interest in the notice is fatal to the validity of the bonds, and for that reason the clerk is justified in his refusal to attest the same.

It needs no argument to support the proposition that the proposal and offer to issue bonds of certain kind and character and the purchase thereof is a contract in which the taxpayer is one party and the bond purchaser the other, and, like every other contract, the minds of the parties must meet in order that it shall be valid. As the statute stood prior to 1909, the matter in relation to the fixing of the maturity of the interest was, by section 1670 of the Political Code, delegated to the board of supervisors as agents of the taxpayers, and the determination of the times of payment of interest by the board would bind the taxpayer. Section 1670 was repealed in 1909 (Stats. 1909, p. 473), and the discretion theretofore reposed in the supervisors in this regard was, by the terms of section 1745, as enacted in that year, reserved to the people themselves, and this is indicated by the statement as to what the notice of election should contain heretofore quoted. This construction is in harmony with the pres

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ent governmental policy tending to reserve to the people powers which have heretofore been delegated to representatives.