Hill v. Bd. of Supervisors of Ventura Cty.

Citations

• 95 Cal. 239
• 30 P. 385
• 1892 Cal. LEXIS 808

Syllabus

<p>„ „ „ „ Public Highway—Petition to Supervisors — Width of Road — stuction of Political Code — Validity of Proceedings. — Section 2682 of the Political Code, providing what the petition to the board of supervisors for the laying out of a public highway must contain, does not require it to state the width of the road, and the failure to state it does .not render the proceedings void, notwithstanding section 2681 of the same code requires the road to be at least forty feet wide, and authorizes the viewers to report upon the necessity of a greater or practicability of a less width of road than petitioned for. A petition for a road not stating the width must he construed to be a petition for a road at least forty feet wide.</p> <p>Id. — Approval of Bond. — Where the bond required by section 2683 of the Political Code to accompany the petition is presented with it, though the petition is marked filed a few days before the date of the bond, an order of the board of supervisors, that the bond he filed, and that the petition be acted upon by the appointment of viewers, is sufficient evidence of an approval of the bond by the board.</p> <p>Id. — Justification of Sureties — Rights of Property Owners.—The fact that the bond was approved, although the sureties had not justified as required by law, is a mere irregularity, which could not affect the private rights of a property owner. The validity of the proceedings cannot be made to depend upon the correctness of the judgment of the board as to whether the justification of a surety was in accordance with the statute.</p> <p>Id. —• Condemnation of Land — Substantial Compliance with Statute — Records of Supervisors — Indulgence of Courts.—The laying out of a public highway is a proceeding to condemn laud, and the mode * is in some sense the measure of the power, and it must appear that the statute has been substantially complied with, to render the proceedings valid; yet the courts make very liberal indulgences in favor of the r