Rosborough v. Boardman

Sharpstein, J. If there was not, immediately preceding the date of the passage of the act to “ establish a uniform system [117]of county and township governments” (approved March 14, 1883), any such office as that of “ county assessor of Alameda County,” there is not any such office now, unless it was created by some provision of that act; and if such an office was created by any provision of that act, such provision did not take effect prior to the first Monday after the 1st day of January, 1885, as clearly appears by section 181: —

“ Any provision of this act creating a county office in any county shall not (except for election purposes) take effect prior to the first Monday after the first day of January, eighteen hundred and eighty-five.” (St. and Amdts, to Codes, 1883, p. 365.)

•The petitioner’s alleged appointment was made prior to the 1st day of January, 1885, and before any provision of the Act of March 14, 1883, “creating a county office” in Alameda County, had taken effect. Petitioner, however, insists that the Act of February 10, 1874, which abolished the office of county assessor of Alameda County and created township assessors, was repealed by an amendment to the Political Code. But this amendment, although passed subsequently to the Act of February 10, 1874, became a part of the Political Code which went into effect prior to the passage of said act. As originally adopted, the Code denominated and enumerated the officers of a county. (Pol. Code, § 4103.)

By the subsequent Act of February 10, 1874, the provision of that Code, making “ an assessor ” a county officer of Alameda County, was repealed. The amendment of the Code which took effect March 7, 1881, does not expressly repeal, nor is it repugnant to any of the provisions of the Act of February 10, 1874. It simply fixes the time of the election of the several officers enumerated in it. (Pol. Code, § 4109.) But for the Act of February 10,1874, this amendment would have applied to Alameda County as fully as to any other. After the passage of the Act of February 10, 1874, Alameda County was as clearly excepted from the operation of the original Code, so far as it related to the office of county assessor, as if the exception had been made in that Code. And if it had been, we think no one would seriously contend that the exception was repealed or in any way affected by the amendment of March 7, 1881 The