Davies v. City of Los Angeles

Citations

• 86 Cal. 37
• 24 P. 771
• 1890 Cal. LEXIS 970

Syllabus

<p>Constitutional Law — Special Municipal Charters Controlled by General Laws.—Under section 6 of article 11 of the constitution, all charters framed or adopted under the constitution are subject to and controllable by general laws; and a special charter adopted by a city, under section 8 of article 11, is no exception to this rule, any special provisions of such charter in conflict with general laws passed after its adoption being superseded by such general laws.</p> <p>Id.—Charter qe Los Angeles — Widening of Streets. — The charter of the city of Los Angeles, framed under section 8 of article 11 of the constitution, is subject to general laws; and the statute of 1889, page 70, providing for the opening and widening of streets, is a general law within the meaning of the constitution, and applicable to the city of Los Angeles.</p> <p>Id. — Statutory Construction — General Law — Special Intent of Legislature. — In construing an act of the legislature to determine whether it is a general or special law, the supreme court is governed by the language of the act, and not by any outside showing as to the intent and object of its passage; and a law general in its terms, and which may be applied to ail cities, cannot be assailed on the ground that it was in fact passed to affect an improvement in one city only.</p> <p>Id.—Title of Act — Object Inclusive of Means — Street Improvements— Assessment of Lands. —The title of the act of 1889 (Stats. 1889, p. 70), entitled “An act to provide for laying out,‘opening, extending, widening, straightening, or closing up, in whole or in part, any street, square, lane, alley, court, or place within municipalities, and to condemn and acquire any and all land and property necessary or convenient for that purpose,” is sufficient to authorize sections of the act providing for the assessment of other lands to pay for lands condemned pursuant to the act, as a means by which the object of the act, as expressed in its title, is to be accomplished