County of Kings v. County of Tulare

Citations

• 119 Cal. 509
• 51 P. 866
• 1898 Cal. LEXIS 662

Syllabus

<p>Swamp Lands—Title and Control of State—Proceeds of Sale—County Swamp Land Fund—Trust—Agency for State.—The swamp and overflowed lands were granted to the state by the act of Congress of September 28, 1850, and the title was thereby vested in the state, for the purpose of enabling it to reclaim the lands by means of levees and drains; and the control of the swamp lands and of the proceeds of their sale being in the state, without power in anyone but the United States to question the disposal made of the lands or their proceeds, no person and no county has any control over or interest in either lands or their proceeds except as the state has granted it. The state has not granted any swamp lands to the counties nor any funds arising from the sale of swamp lands therein, and the establishment of a swamp land fund in the various counties where swamp land districts have been formed was the creation by the state of a trust fund, making the counties and county officials mere agencies of the state, used by it in carrying out the purpose of reclamation, and the state may alter or amend its laws relating to the subject and control the custody of the fund at its pleasure.</p> <p>Id.—Division of County—Custody of Swamp Land Fund—Action by New County not Maintainable.—Upon the division of a county no provision has been made by law for any change in the custody of the swamp land fund of the original county; and it cannot be claimed in such case that the trust has failed for want of a trustee, nor is there any ground for equitable interposition, but the legislature is the appropriate and only source of relief; and no action will lie on behalf of the new county to recover a share of such fund.</p>