Clark v. Willett

Citations

• 35 Cal. 534
• 1868 Cal. LEXIS 123

Syllabus

<p>Authority of Attorney to act.—Attorneys are officers of the Court, and answerable to it for the proper performance of their professional duties. They appear and participate in its proceedings only by the license of the Court.</p> <p>Idem—Power of Court to pass upon their Authority to act.—An attorney's license is prima facie evidence of his authority to appear for any person whom he professes to represent; but if the supposed client denies his authority the Court may require him to produce the evidence of his retainer under the supervisory power which it has over its own process and the acts of its officers. This the Court may do either upon the direct application of the person or party represented, or upon motion of the attorney of the opposite party to dismiss, founded upon the affidavit of the person or party concerning whom the motion is made.</p> <p>Evidence—Mode of Proving Value of Ditch.—The ordinary and proper mode of proving the value of a water ditch is by showing its capacity, the market value of water in the vicinity, and the probable duration of the demand.</p> <p>Idem. — In such case evidence of the value or profits of certain mining claims belonging to the owners of the ditch and supplied therefrom with water to mine the same, is inadmissible in evidence to establish the value of the ditch, unless accompanied by further evidence showing that the claims could not be worked without the aid of the ditch.</p> <p>Evidence as to Cause of Injury to Water Ditch.—Plaintiffs brought action to enjoin the defendants from the further mining, tunneling, and drifting of their mining claims beneath the surface of the earth across and on top of which plaintiffs' ditch extended, and which had already somewhat settled and the earth beneath it become cracked, on the ground that said ditch, the right of way for which was older than the mining right of the defendants, would be irreparably injured by reason of the further settling, cracking, and caving of said earth, whi