Cosner v. Board of Supervisors of Colusa County

Citations

• 58 Cal. 274

Syllabus

<p>Swamp Land — Reclamation—Approval of Warrant by Board op Supervisors.—Under the provisions of the Political Code for the reclamation of swamp lands, where the district is situated in different counties, the assessment or charge upon each tract of land is to be paid into the treasury of the county in which the particular tract is situated; and is to be paid out, for the work of reclamation, upon the warrants of the trustees, approved by the Board of Supervisors of that county.</p> <p>Id.—Id.—Id.—The provision requiring the approval of the warrants of the trustees by the Board of Supervisors involves the idea of discretion and adjudication, and each Board of Supervisors (where the district extends beyond a single county) has the same discretion, with respect to warrants drawn upon their county, as has the Board where the whole district is included within one county.</p> <p>Id.—Id.—Id.—.Approval — Deítxition—Presumptively, where the approval of a distinct officer is made necessary to validate or consummate the act of another, it is the intention of the Legislature that he should be invested with the option to sanction officially or to disapprove the act submitted to him. Yet such presumed intention is not conclusive; and if it clearly appears from the nature of the act, or the express language of the context, that the word “ approved” is used in a more limited sense, and imposes a mere ministerial or clerical duty, the Court will so hold.</p>