Millard v. County of Kern

GRAY, C.

The action was brought to recover from defendant. county four hundred and five dollars alleged to be due plaintiff as justice of the peace on one hundred and thirty-five criminal actions and proceedings heard before him during the month of September, 1903. The plaintiff had judgment for the amount claimed, and the defendant county appeals therefrom.

1. Appellant’s first contention is, that the complaint fails to show that the claim was presented twice to the board of supervisors, and is therefore defective.

It appears that the claim was wholly rejected on its first and only presentation to the board. It was therefore unnecessary to present it again.

(San Diego

v.

Riverside,

125 Cal. 499, [58 Pac. 81].)

2. The vital question in the case relates to the constitutionality of the County Government Act of 1897 as amended

[684]

in 1901. In 1897 (Stats. 1897, p. 536) it was provided that justices of the peace in Kern County in townships having a population of four thousand should receive a monthly salary of one hundred and twenty-five dollars in full compensation of all services in both civil and criminal cases. Under the-same section justices of the peace in townships of less than' four thousand inhabitants were to receive the “fees as are now or may héreafter be allowed by law.” In townships of from nine hundred to four thousand inhabitants it was provided that a. justice of the peace should receive not more than one hundred dollars in one month for work in criminal eases. In other townships they were to receive three dollars in each •criminal case not exceeding forty dollars in any one month. In 1901 (Stats. 1901, p. 749) the townships of Kern County were classified “for the purpose of regulating the salaries of' justices of the peace and constables.” This was intended as an amendment to the act of 1897 above referred to. Under the provisions of the act of 1897 as amended by the classification of townships in 1901, the township in which plaintiff was a justice of the peace was of the first class, which by the amendment was raised to a population of five thousand and upwards, and the total compensation of the said justice by the terms of the statute was to be a fixed salary of one hundred and twenty-five dollars per month. We are of opinion, however, that the act as amended in 1901 does not regulate the compensation of justices of the peace “in proportion to-duties,” and is therefore in conflict with the constitution. The late case of