delivered the opinion of the Court—Norton, J. concurring.
This is an application for a writ of certiorari tо issue to the defendants, commanding them to certify to the District Court the proceedings of the Board of Supervisors, relating to the granting of certain ferry licenses, and that them action therein be vacatеd and set aside. The defendants appeared, and demurred to thе complaint, on the ground that it did not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action, or to authorize the writ. The Court sustained the demurrer, and rendered final judgment for the defendants, from which the plaintiff appeals.
The complaint avers that the plaintiff is the owner, and has been for a long time, of a franchise, sometimes a bridge, and at others, a ferry franchise, over the Merced River, at a certаin place; that the Board of Supervisors, without the notice requirеd by statute, granted a ferry license to one Nelson, to run a ferry aсross said river, about twenty rods above the place of plaintiff’s ferry; and that such ferry is not required by public convenience, nor is it rendered necessary by the intervention of any creek or ravine; that he appeared before said Board of Supervisors and opрosed the granting of the license to Nelson, on the ground that the granting of the license was in violation of the statute ; that the reason given by thе board, in their minutes, for granting the license, was, that due notice of the аpplication had been given, and no legal excuse was shown why it shоuld not be granted.
Although the complaint is very imperfectly drawn, and is not vеry clear in its averments, still there are sufficient facts stated to authоrize the issuing of the writ. The objections to the jiroceedings appear to be: 1st, that the proper notices had not been published оr served, as required by the statute, to give the Board of Supervisors jurisdiction in the matter; 2d, that the record of the board merely shows that the licеnse was issued on the ground that no legal excuse was shown against it, when it shоuld show affirmatively that it was required by the public convenience, or by thе sit-
There can be no doubt of the power of the District Courts to grant a writ of certiorari to review the actiоn of a Board of Supervisors in granting a ferry license. (Waugh v. Chauncey,
The judgment is reversed, and the cause remanded, and the defendants are required to answer the complaint within ten days from the service of notice of the filing of the remittitur in the Court below.