Lower Kings River Reclamation District No. 531 v. McCullah

Citations

• 124 Cal. 175
• 56 P. 887
• 1899 Cal. LEXIS 965

Syllabus

<p>Reclamation District—Action to Declare Validity of Assessment— Constitutional Law.—Section 349% of the Political Code, enacted in 1893, providing for an action by a reclamation district to determine the validity of an assessment, and making the judgment conclusive between the parties thereto in any subsequent action upon the assessment, is not special legislation, and gives the property owner the hearing to which he is entitled, and is constitutional and valid.</p> <p>Id.—Description of Tract Assessed—Legal Subdivisions.—The description of the tract assessed, if including more than forty acres, is not required to set forth separately each smallest legal subdivision of forty acres; but sections 3460 and 3461 of the Political Code only require a description by legal subdivisions, swamp land surveys or natural boundaries of the tract assessed, and to state the number of acres of each tract, the names of the owners of each tract, and the amount of the charge assessed against each tract.</p> <p>Id.—Clerical Mistake in Description—Number of Section—Identification.—A clerical mistake in the description of a tract assessed, in giving the wrong number to a section, does not vitiate the assessment, where the entire description is such that the mistake is obvious upon a mere inspection of the map or diagram of the tract, and the identification of the land is apparent from the other calls, and a surveyor would have no difficulty in ascertaining the precise land intended.</p> <p>Id.—Purchase of Rights of Way from Directors—Payment under Prior Assessment.—The purchase of rights of way from the directors of the district which were necessary and were paid for at the same rate pea- acre as other land-owners were paid whose lands were similarly situated, and were paid from the fund raised for a prior assessment, and not included in the hills for the subsequent assessment in controversy, cannot vitiate the latter.</p> <p>Id.—Assessment for Work Done and Money Paid by Trustee.—The a