Arroyo Ditch & Water Co. v. Superior Court

Harrison, J. The plaintiff, a private corporation,, brought an action against one E. J. Standlee-, in the-justice’s court for Downey township, in Los Angeles County, upon a promissory note for twenty-one dollars,, executed to it by him. The defendant filed a verified answer to the complaint, alleging that the sole consider-ation for which the note had been given was a pretended assessment by the plaintiff upon its capital stock (of which he held a certain number of shares), and that the said assessment was illegal and void. Upon filing the-answer, the defendant moved the court to transfer the action to the superior court, upon the ground that it necessarily involved the question of the legality of an assessment, and thereupon the court suspended all further proceedings in the action, and certified- the pleadings to the county clerk of Los Angeles County. After the pleadings had been filed with the-county clerk, the plaintiff moved the superior court to remand the-cause to the justice’s court upon the ground that that court erred in transferring the cause to the superior court, and that the superior court had no jurisdiction of the matter. This motion was denied, and the court thereafter tried the cause, and rendered a judgment in favor of the defendant. At the instance of the plaintiff, a writ of review was issued out of this court to the superior court, and in obedience thereto a transcript of the records and proceedings of that court in the matter has been certified to this court.

[50]The constitution, article VI., section 5, declares that “the superior court shall have original jurisdiction . . . . in all cases at law which involve the .... legality of any tax, impost, assessment, toll, or municipal fine.” The term “assessment,” used in this provision, does not include the installments or “ calls,” which are sometimes termed assessments, made under the provisions of section 331 of the Civil Code, by a private corporation upon its stockholders in accordance with an agreement on their part, express or implied, to pay into its treasury the amount subscribed by them to its capital stock. It has reference to such assessments as are authorized by those provisions of the constitution which relate to revenue and taxation, and to such as may be made under the authority of a municipal or other public corporation for the purpose of meeting the cost or expense of some public improvement. (Taylor v. Palmer, 31 Cal. 241.) The other words in the clause, in connection with which the term is associated, serve to illustrate its meaning, and resolve any doubt that might otherwise be raised respecting the sense in which it is to be interpreted. Each of these subjects, viz., tax, impost, toll, municipal fine, of which jurisdiction is thus conferred upon the superior court, implies a charge imposed by public authority for some public purpose, and under the rules by which the maxim, noseüur a sociis, is applied, it is clear that the “ assessment ” referred to is of a kindred nature. Inasmuch, therefore, as the constitution has not conferred upon the superior court any original jurisdiction to determine the legality of the assessment alleged in the answer of the defendant, it follows that the justice’s court had full jurisdiction to determine all questions relating to such assessment that might be presented upon the trial of the cause, and had no authority to certify the pleadings to the superior court.