Fritz v. City & County of San Francisco

GAROUTTE,J.

—This is an appeal from a judgment of the superior court in and for the city and county of San Francisco sustaining the demurrer to a complaint filed by a taxpayer in a proceeding to enjoin the board of supervisors and the mayor of said city and county from taking any further action in pursuance of certain proceedings previously inaugurated, and having for their object the issuance of bonds of said city and county, and the purchase of lands for park purposes from the proceeds thereof. The proceedings leading up to the proposed issuance of these bonds are assailed at many places, but the court finds it necessary to review only the more important propositions of law involved.

The Park and Boulevard Act (Stats. 1889, p. 361), under which the election was held submitting the question of the issuance of these bonds to the electors of the city and county of San Francisco, provides (sec. 6), “If at such an election two thirds of the qualified electors voting an assent to the issuance of the bonds, then the ‘city and county’ or ‘city or town’ having held such election, may, by ordinance, or in such manner as other-municipal legislative acts are enacted under its charter, provide,” etc. It is now claimed that the proper construction of this section demands that two thirds of all the qualified electors of the city and county of San Francisco must vote in favor of the issuance of the bonds, or the proposition for their issuance is defeated. The statute cannot bear this construction. As it appears upon the page, it is apparent by a casual inspection that a misprint has occurred. For, as it stands, literally it is meaningless. But if we eliminate the word “an,” the insertion of which is clearly a typographical error, then the section becomes grammatically correct, and full of meaning, for it would read: “If at such an election two thirds of the qualified electors voting, assent to the issuance of the bonds, then,” etc. Standing upon the page in this form, it means exactly what it says, and says only one thing; namely, if two thirds of the qualified electors voting, assent, etc. If any authority were needed to support this construction of the statute, it may be found in

Howland

v.

Board of Supervisors,

109 Cal. 152. But the language of the section as it should

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