154 P. 845 | Cal. | 1916
The petitioner has applied to this court for a writ prohibiting the respondents from taking any further proceedings in an action instituted in the superior court of Sutter County.
The action in question was instituted by the county of Sutter as plaintiff against Reclamation District No. 1500, the petitioner herein, its trustees and other parties, for the purpose of obtaining an injunction restraining said defendants from constructing certain levees or completing their construction. The complaint alleged that the construction of such levees would, at times of high water, flood a large tract of land which, under natural conditions, was not subject to inundation, and would destroy or injure the county courthouse, jail, hall of records, and grounds of Sutter County, as well as numerous bridges and many miles of highway belonging to said county. The petitioner herein, and its trustees, appeared in said action and objected to the issuance of any injunction upon the grounds that are now relied upon as justifying the writ of prohibition here sought. Notwithstanding their objections, the superior court issued a temporary injunction restraining the construction of the greater part of the levee work described in the complaint, and thereafter set the cause for trial. The petitioner now seeks to prohibit the further prosecution of the action, contending that the superior court is without jurisdiction to grant the relief sought therein.
Reclamation District No. 1500 was created by an act of the legislature approved April 30, 1913. (Stats. 1913, p. 130.) By section 1 of the act a reclamation district, to be known as Reclamation District No. 1500, was created and its boundaries were described. The same section contains the following provision: "It shall be the duty of said reclamation district No. 1500 to construct a levee, forming the south side of Tisdale by-pass, and a portion of the westerly side of the Sutter basin by-pass, the center line of which levee shall be substantially along the following lines, the same having been approved by the state reclamation board March 31st, 1913." (Here follows a description of the line of the levee.) The Tisdale by-pass mentioned in the act forms the northerly boundary of District No. 1500. The described levee line along a "portion of the westerly side of the Sutter basin by-pass" is the easterly boundary *675 of the district. This portion at its southerly end touches the left bank of the Sacramento River at a point known as Wild Irishman Bend, and the act declares "it shall be the duty of said reclamation district No. 1500 to continue the construction of a levee along the left bank of the Sacramento River, or adjacent thereto, from the said Wild Irishman Bend, up-stream, to the place of beginning." The Sacramento River, from said "place of beginning" on the Tisdale by-pass to Wild Irishman Bend, forms the westerly and southerly boundaries of the district, so that the levees described in the act would completely inclose the said district. The portion of the work sought to be enjoined is that bordering on the Tisdale by-pass and the Sutter basin by-pass. Section 2 of the act provides for the management and control of the district in accordance with the provisions of the Political Code, names five trustees who are to hold until the election and qualification of their successors, and declares that the district shall have the powers conferred by law upon reclamation and swamp-land districts and certain other powers. The remaining sections of the act have no bearing upon the questions here involved.
The property which, as the complaint in the injunction suit alleges, will be damaged by the construction of the levee is not within the boundaries of Reclamation District No. 1500. The petitioner's contention that the superior court is exceeding its jurisdiction in undertaking to restrain the acts complained of in the action pending before it is based upon the provisions of sections
It will not be questioned that the act which creates Reclamation District No. 1500 is a public statute. It is equally clear that the construction of the levees designated in the act constitutes the execution of such public statute. The injunction complained of restrains the district and its trustees from proceeding with the erection of such levees. *676
The statute does not in terms impose the duty of building the levees upon the trustees. Such construction is declared to be the duty of the district. But since a corporation, public or private, can act only through its officers or agents, the statutory imposition of a duty upon the district necessarily imposes the duty upon the directing officers of the district. We need not, therefore, inquire whether the reclamation district, as such, may be regarded as an "officer of the law" within the meaning of section
The argument, in any case, against the validity of an injunction issued to restrain the execution of a statute, rests, of course, on the premise that the statute in question is a valid exercise of the legislative power. An act of the legislature which is in conflict with the constitution is no statute at all. It "is utterly void, has no force or legal existence. . . ." (Wheeler v. Herbert,
The respondents attack the validity of the act creating Reclamation District No. 1500, and the soundness of their contentions in this regard must be examined. The title of the act is as follows: "An act creating a reclamation district to be called and known as 'Reclamation District No. 1500'; providing for the management and control thereof and dissolving *677
all levee districts, swamp land districts, and reclamation districts, lying wholly within the boundaries of said Reclamation District No. 1500, providing for the liquidation and winding up of said dissolved districts, and excluding from any levee district, swamp land district and reclamation district any land lying within the boundaries of said Reclamation District No. 1500." The main contention of the parties attacking the validity of the law is that the provision making it the duty of the district to construct certain levees deals with a subject which is not suggested by the title of the act, and that this provision, therefore, must fall because of the terms of article IV, section 24, of the constitution. That section reads: "Every act shall embrace but one subject, which subject shall be expressed in its title. But if any subject shall be embraced in an act which shall not be expressed in its title, such act shall be void only as to so much thereof as shall not be expressed in its title." The constitutional provision respecting the titles of acts has frequently been the subject of construction by this court. It is thoroughly settled that the provision is to be liberally construed with a view to effecting the object of the provision, viz., to prevent the passage of acts bearing deceitful and misleading titles. (Ex parte Liddell,
One ground of objection urged by respondents is that while, under the provisions of the Political Code relative to reclamation districts, the location of the levees and other details of the plans of reclamation are committed to the board of trustees (Pol. Code, sec. 3454), the present act by its own terms provides for the location of the levees. But since, as is well settled, districts of this kind may be created by special act (People v. Levee District,
The petition herein refers to other acts of the legislature (and an act of Congress), which contemplate the formation and adoption of a plan for the general control of flood conditions in the Sacramento Valley under the joint direction of the federal and state governments. These acts are pointed to as indicating the reason for the direction in the present act that the levees be located as they are, such location being a part of the general plan referred to. We do not find it necessary to refer in greater detail to these matters, for the reason that, as already stated, we think it entirely within the power of the legislature, in creating a reclamation district by special act, to define the manner and plan by which the contemplated reclamation work shall be carried out. It becomes unnecessary, therefore, to consider the question whether the other acts referred to, i. e., the one creating the reclamation board (Stats. 1911, Special Session, p. 117) and the one approving the plan of the California Debris Commission *679 (Stats. 1913, p. 252), are open to attack as containing an unconstitutional delegation of power by the legislature.
But the respondents argue that the action is one to restrain the commission of acts which will constitute a taking of the property of Sutter County, the plaintiff in the injunction suit, and that any statute which purports to authorize such taking without compensation is a violation of familiar constitutional restrictions. (Const., art. I, sec. 14.)Payne v. English,
*680
These views are in no wise inconsistent with the recognition of a sufficient title in the counties to justify their maintaining actions against private persons or corporations injuring roads or other public property. That such actions may be maintained is the full extent of the holding in cases like *681 Sierra County v. Butler,
The act being constitutional and the injunction sought being one which contravenes the prohibition of section
Section
This rule, like that of subdivision 7, which was involved inGlide v. Superior Court,
Even though the lower tribunal is about to exceed its jurisdiction, the writ of prohibition will not lie where there is "a plain, speedy and adequate remedy in the ordinary course of law." (Code Civ. Proc., sec. 1103.) It is true that in the case at bar the petitioner might by appeal review the correctness of any judgment or order enjoining it, but we do not think that such appeal would, under the circumstances here described, be an adequate remedy. (Glide v. Superior Court,
We have considered this proceeding as if it had been submitted upon an agreed statement of facts. The respondents have demurred to the petition and have also filed an answer. For the reasons hereinbefore stated, the demurrer should be overruled. The answer does not raise any issue which we regard as material. There is, therefore, no occasion for the determination of any issue of fact, and the application should be finally disposed of at this time.
It is ordered that a peremptory writ of prohibition issue as prayed.
Shaw, J., Melvin, J., Henshaw, J., Lawlor, J., and Angellotti, C. J., concurred. *684