77 Cal. 473 | Cal. | 1888
Appeal by the defendant from a judgment commanding him to draw his warrant in favor of the plaintiff for the sum of sixty dollars. The plaintiff was porter of the senate during the session of 1885, and bases his claim upon the following resolution of that body, viz.:—
“Whereas, during the present session of the legislature the senate has been in session during a period of several weeks from eleven o’clock, a. m., to eleven o’clock, p. m., thus entailing extra work, amounting to sixteen hours, upon the porters, pages, watchmen, gate-keepers, mail-carrier, and the mailing clerk,—
“Resolved, That the pages, porters, watchmen, gatekeepers, mail-carrier, and the mailing clerk be and they are hereby allowed one dollar per day for extra services for the session, and the controller is hereby authorized and directed to draw his warrants in the sum of sixty dollars for each of the above enumerated employees, payable out of the contingent fund of the senate.”
This resolution is alleged in the complaint to have been passed a few days before the end of the session. And from this fact and from its language it is apparent that the compensation was for services which had been already rendered. The idea upon which the resolution rests is, that the services were “extra,” or in other words, something outside of the regular duties of the employment. And since it is not pretended that the services were different in kind from the regular duties, they are “extra” because they^were for a longer time than seems to have been considered usual. But the compensation of the porters is fixed by law at “four dollars per day.”
This view of the case renders it unnecessary to express any opinion as to whether the legislature has in any case power to recognize a merely moral claim.
We therefore advise that the judgment be reversed, with directions to dismiss the proceedings,
Foote, C., and Belcher, C. C., concurred.
For the reasons given in the foregoing opinion, the judgment is reversed, and the court below directed to dismiss the proceedings.