Emigrant Ditch Co. v. Webber

Citations

• 108 Cal. 88
• 40 P. 1061
• 1895 Cal. LEXIS 826

Syllabus

<p>Corporations—Eminent Domain—Action by Ditch Company—Plea in Abatement—Failure to File Copy op Articles op Incorporation. In' an action by a ditch company to condemn the necessary rights for extending its ditches over the land of the defendant, where the plaintiff necessarily pleaded its ownership of canals and water in the county in which the action was brought, for the purpose of showing that the condemnation of the land of the defendant sought to he acquired was necessary or expedient, and this ownership is denied, the action is sufficiently in relation to property held by the corporation to entitle the defendant to plead in abatement a noncompliance by plaintiff with section 299 of the Civil Code, by reason of not having filed a copy of its articles of incorporation in the county in which the action was brought.</p> <p>Id.—Acquisition of Property by Eminent Domain.—So far as relates to the acquisition of property to be acquired by eminent domain, it is not necessary that as to that property the plaintiff should have filed a copy of its articles of incorporation before the commencement of- the action.</p> <p>Id,—Construction of Code.—Section 299 of the Civil Code does not forbid corporations failing to comply with its provisions from acquiring property, either by purchase or condemnation, but it does inhibit the maintenance or defense by them of any action in relation to the property which they have acquired.</p> <p>Id.—Material Issue as to Ownership of Property—Action not Maintainable.—Where a plaintiff seeking to acquire property by condemnation finds it necessary to tender a material issue as to the ownership of property in the county, in order to support the action, it cannot be maintained where it appears that the corporation was incorporated in another county, and had not filed its articles of incorporation in the county in which the action was commenced prior to its commencement.</p>