People ex rel. Brown v. Union High Sch. Dist. of Solano Cty.

High School District—Petition of Trustees—Corporate Act.—Under the act of the legislature of March 20, 1891, to provide for the establishment of high schools, no corporate act of the board of trustees of the several school districts uniting to form a union high school district is required; but it is sufficient that a majority of the trustees of each of the school districts shall sign the petition to the superintendent of schools for the formation of the union high school district, though not authorized by any corporate act, or resolution of any one of the boards of school trustees of which the signers were members.

Id.—Petition by Resident Electors—Construction #of Statute.—The second section of the act of March 20, 1891, providing that the petition of the trustees shall be accompanied by another petition “for the establishment of such high schools, signed by not less than one hundred.Resident electors of such school district,” does not require that the petition shall be signed by one hundred resident electors in each of the common school districts of which the proposed high school district is composed, but the words “ such school district ” refer to the proposed “ union high school district. ”

Id.—Use of “Such” in Statute.—When the word “such,” used in a statute, precedes a noun of singular number, it properly relates to the same noun in the same number, as antecedently expressed and qualified, and especially to the antecedent qualification of that noun, and denotes that the noun which it precedes is to be understood as antecedently qualified.

Id.—Election for High School—Majority of Votes Cast—Construction of Statute.—The provisions of the statute that the county school superintendent shall call an election in each school district, and that the officers of such elections shall report the result to him, and that if a majority of such votes be cast in favor of a high school, the superintendent must call a meeting of the boards of school trustees, and proceed to determine the question of locating the high school, do not require that there shall be a majority of the votes cast in each district in favor of the high school, but the statute is properly construed to mean a majority of all the votes cast in the proposed high school district.

Id.—Neglect to Hold Election in One District.—The election having been regularly called, and all the persons interested having been duly notified of the time and places at which they would have the privilege of voting, the neglect to hold an election in one of the school districts does not vitiate the election.

Id.—Appointment of Officers of Election—Presumption.—If the requisite number of inspectors, judges, and clerks of election was not appointed, the presumption is, in the absence of a showing to the contrary, that the deficiency was supplied by the electors present at the time of opening the polls.