County of San Diego v. Seifert

Citations

• 97 Cal. 594
• 32 P. 644
• 1893 Cal. LEXIS 596

Syllabus

<p>License Tax—Ordinance of Supervisors—Action by County—Pleading— Uncertainty— Defects Cured by Answer and Judgment. — In an action by a county to recover a license tax imposed by an ordinance of the supervisors, where the complaint alleged that the defendant was required to procure a license tax under and by virtue of an ordinance of the board of supervisors of said county duly passed and approved at a regular meeting, and thereafter duly published as required by law, and alleged a failure, refusal, and neglect of defendant to pay such license tax, in violation of the ordinance, but did not allege specifically that defendant failed to take out a license, and the defendant, without demurring to the complaint for uncertainty, filed an answer taking issue upon the passage or approval of the ordinance, and upon the failure of the defendant to take out a license, it is too late after such answer, and after decision and judgment, to object that the complaint was uncertain, and did not show the existence of the ordinance, or a violation of the ordinance upon which the action was founded.</p> <p>Id. — General Findings —• Support of Judgment. — A general finding that all the allegations of the complaint are true, and the denials and allegations of the answer are untrue, is sufficient to support a judgment in favor of a county for the collection of a license tax sued upon.</p> <p>Id. — Evidence —Ordinance Fixing Regular Meetings of Supervisors —Burden of Proof. —Where the question at issue is, whether an ordinance of the supervisors imposing a license tax was passed at a regular meeting, and the plaintiff introduced in evidence a prior ordinance of the supervisors, declaring that the regular meetings should be held on the first Monday of every month, the validity of which ordinance was not put in issue by the pleadings, the plaintiff is not required to show that the meeting at which such ordinance was passed was itself a regular meeting.</p> <p>Id. — Presumption from Record