Reddy v. Tinkum

Citations

• 60 Cal. 458
• 1882 Cal. LEXIS 494

Syllabus

<p>Territorial Jurisdiction of the State—County Governments—Mono County Warrants.—By an Act of the Legislature passed in 1861 for the creation of the County of Mono, the eastern boundary of the State was made the eastern boundary of the County and it was provided, that the seat of justice should be at Aurora; but upon the definite location of the State boundary line under legislative authority it was ascertained that Aurora was within the then Territory of Nevada, and thereupon, (in year 1864) an Act was passed establishing the County seat at Bridgeport, a point west of the State line. By the former Act an election of County officers was provided for, and seven persons were named, (all of them residents of Nevada Territory), to constitute a Board of Commissioners to designate the election precincts in the County, canvass the returns and issue certificates of the election and officers were accordingly elected and qualified and assumed to perform official functions. In an application for a writ of mandamus to the Treasurer of the County of Mono to compel him to pay certain'warrants drawn by the Auditor thus elected in the years 1862 and 1863, endorsed “ presented and not paid for want of funds ” by the person then assuming to act as County Treasurer, the Court below denied the writ.</p> <p>Held : The writ was properly denied. Neither the warrants nor the claims upon which they are based form any basis for a legal demand against the County as now organized. The action of the Legislature in naming Aurora as the seat of justice, and in naming persons as officers who are nonresidents of the State whether regarded as a mistake, or as an intended assertion of jurisdiction, was in excess of its authority.</p> <p>Id.—Id.—The legislative authority of every State must spend its force within the territorial limits of the State; it has no extra-territorial jurisdiction.</p>