County of Los Angeles v. Hunt

RICHARDS, J.

The application herein is for a writ of mandate whereby the petitioner seeks to compel the respondent as treasurer of the county of Los Angeles to sign and issue certain bonds which had been ordered to be issued by the board of supervisors of said county under the provisions of an act of the legislature known as the “Acquisition and Improvement Act of 1925” (Stats. 1925, p. 849), and under section 28 of said act. The questions presented upon said application and upon the demurrer of the respondent to the sufficiency thereof involve primarily the constitutionality of said act, and, secondarily, certain alleged irregularities of procedure thereunder appearing upon the face of said application, but which do not affect the validity of the act itself.

An examination of the aforesaid act of 1925 discloses that the controlling purpose of those who framed it and of the legislature in its adoption was to provide a simplified plan and at the same time a comprehensive procedure for the acquisition and improvement of public ways, parks, and pleasure grounds, whether lying entirely within unincorporated territory of a county or within the territory of a municipality, or lying partly within such unincorporated territory and partly within one or more municipalities; or lying within two or more municipalities; or forming the exterior boundary of any municipality where the same joins unincorporated territory of a county or the territory of another municipality whether partly within or without such boundary; and for the payment of the costs and expenses of such acquisition and work of improvement and the issuance and payment of bonds therefor; and for such other purposes as may be necessary to carry into effect the main purposes and provisions of said act. It is asserted by the petitioner, and is not denied or questioned by the respondent, that the object of this act is to embrace and combine within its provisions and procedure the accomplishment of

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all of the various things relating to the acquisition and improvement of public ways, parks, and pleasure -grounds,the accomplishment of which has heretofore been committed to a number of earlier statutory enactments; such as the Vrooman Act (Stats. 1885, p. 147) and its several amendments, the Improvement Act of 1911 (Stats. 1911, p. 730), the Municipal District Improvement Act (Stats. 1915, p. 99), the City Boundary Street Act (Stats. 1911, p. 1018), the Road District Improvement Act (Stats. 1907, p. 806), the Drainage District Improvement Act (Stats. 1919, p. 731), the Street Opening Act of 1889 (Stats. 1889, p. 70), the Opening and Widening Act of 1903 (Stats. 1903, p. 376), the County Street Opening Act of 1923 (Stats. 1923, p. 308), and possibly certain other and earlier enactments. The provisions of the act, in so far as they come under review in this proceeding, may be briefly summarized as follows : Section 1 thereof purports to confer jurisdiction upon the several legislative bodies of those political subdivisions wherein public improvements of the kind above indicated are contemplated, with power to proceed according to the method provided in subsequent provisions of the act. Section 2 thereof provides that, whenever public convenience may require the acquisition or improvement or both the acquisition and improvement of the aforesaid public ways or properties, the legislative body of the political subdivision wherein the same are situate may order the said acquisition or improvement thereof, or, if both the acquisition and improvement are desired, may provide by such order that both may be included and consummated in a single proceeding and that public ways already acquired, as well as the whole or any portion of such as are to be acquired under such proceeding, may be improved under such single proceeding; and that, in the course of such acquisition or improvement or both, authority, power, and jurisdiction are given to the legislative body or bodies thus proceeding to make the same, to issue, sell, and dispose of bonds representing the costs and expenses of such acquisition and improvement and to provide the funds for the payment of such bonds through the levy and collection of assessment taxes upon such districts and the property therein as may be established or in said act subsequently provided for as being affected by such improvement. The section proceeds at some length and