Kelso v. Cole

Citations

• 121 Cal. 121
• 53 P. 353
• 1898 Cal. LEXIS 861

Syllabus

<p>Street Improvement—Abandonment op Contract—Proportional Assessment-Statutory Construction.—Section 12% of the general street law, as amended in 1889, authorizing a proportional assessment for the amount of the contract completed, upon the completion of two blocks or more of any improvement, instead of waiting until the completion of the improvement, applies only to an existing contract under which the whole work is to be completed, and is not intended to give new life to a dead contract; and the board of supervisors has no jurisdiction under that section to order a proportional assessment, when a portion of the work has been abandoned by the contractor, and the time for completion of the whole contract has expired.</p> <p>In.—Proceedings fob Street Work Statutory.—All proceedings for work upon streets, etc., in the municipalities of the state, under the act of March 18, 1885, and the amendments thereto, are purely statutory, and can only be conducted in the cases and after the manner provided by the statutes; and the authority conferred thereby must be strictly pursued.</p> <p>Id.—Performance of Contract—Limitation of Time—Loss of Jurisdiction.—The contract must be fulfilled within the time specified therein, or such further time as may have been given therefor by a valid extension during the life of the contract; and when the work has not been performed within the time so limited therefor, the contract ceases to have any vitality, and jurisdiction thereafter to extend it or to levy an assessment thereon becomes extinct, and, even if the work is completed thereafter, it forms no foundation for a valid assessment. The only power reserved' is to let the completion of the work anew.</p>