Geary v. Bd. of Supervisors of San Diego

Citations

• 107 Cal. 530
• 40 P. 800
• 1895 Cal. LEXIS 788

Syllabus

<p>Roads and Highways—Petition for Private Road—Power of Supervisors.—The board of supervisors has no power to create a private road, or take any step therein, until a petition is filed, which petition in form must be in substantial compliance with the requirements of the statute.</p> <p>Id.—Signature to Petition.—A petition for a private road should regularly be signed by the party who is directly benefited by the laying out of the road.</p> <p>Id.—Necessity of Bond—Compliance with Statute.—A bond must accompany the petition, and it is only when the petition and bond are presented to the board of supervisors that power is vested in them to take affirmative action; and a bond in substantial compliance with the statute is as necessary to vest the board with jurisdiction to act as is a petition in substantial compliance with the statute.</p> <p>Id.—Irregular Bond—False Reference to Petition__A bond which appears upon its face to be given upon a petition for a private road by a party who is not a signer to the petition, and which in no way refers to the petition, upon which the proceedings were inaugurated, is wholly void as a bond to support the petition, and does not give the board of supervisors jurisdiction of the proceedings.</p> <p>Id.—Omission of Necessary Condition in Bond.—A bond supporting a petition for a private road, which omits the condition provided for in section 2692 of the Political Code, that the bondsmen will pay to the person over whose land said road is sought to be opened his necessary costs and disbursements in contesting the opening of the road in case the petition be not granted and the road finally not opened, is fatally defective.</p> <p>Id.—Amendment of Bond—Previous Acts not Validated.—A fatally defective bond cannot be cured by amendment so as to validate previous acts of the board done without jurisdiction.</p>