County of Los Angeles v. Payne

THOMPSON, J.

— The petitioner seeks a writ of mandate directing the County Auditor of Los Angeles County, H. A. Payne, to countersign the bonds of the Los Angeles County Water Works District No. 9. The respondent Payne and the respondent Alleman, a taxpayer of the district, have appeared by demurrer, so that for the purposes hereof we may refer to the petition for the facts. It appears therefrom that on January 11, 1926, a petition for the formation of the water works district signed by the

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requisite number of freeholders was presented to the board of supervisors, together with the map and bond as required; that the board fixed February 8, 1926, as the time for the hearing of the petition and protests, if any; that notice thereof was given by the clerk by posting in three public places and also by publication in the “Compton News-Tribune” on January 19, 1926, and January 26, 1926. The County Water Works District Act (Deering’s Gen. Laws of 1923, p. 3784) requires that “The said clerk shall also cause a notice ... to be published at least once a week for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation printed and published in the county in which the proposed district is located and designated by said board for that purpose. Said notice must be posted and published, as above provided, at least ten days before the date set for the hearing of said petition.” The respondents assert that the publication recited was insufficient and was not in compliance with the provisions quoted. It also appears from the pleadings here that in the petition presented to the board, the estimate of the cost of the proposed improvement and of the incidental expenses in connection therewith was set forth as follows: “The estimated cost of the improvement together with the incidental expenses in connection therewith is Seventy Thousand Dollars ($70,000.00).” The respondents take the position that this is not sufficient to meet the requirements of the act that the petition shall contain “an estimate of the cost of the proposed improvement and of the incidental expenses in connection therewith.”

We proceed to the inquiry with the mandate of the statute in mind that it shall be liberally construed to effect the purposes thereof. As was said by us in a recent decision, “We cannot, however apply a rule of construction where there exists no room for construction.”