Swamp-Land Reclamation District No. 407 v. Wilcox

Citations

• 2 Cal. Unrep. 794
• 14 P. 843
• 1887 Cal. LEXIS 851

Syllabus

<p>Swamp Lands—Assessments—Order of Board of Supervisors— Alteration—Evidence.—In an action by a swamp-land reclamation district to enforce the payment of a swamp-land assessment, plaintiff offered in evidence an order appearing in the “minute-book” of the board of supervisors, in which, by Political Code, sections 4029-4031, all orders of the board are required to be recorded; and it was conceded that, without the direction of the board, the order had been altered by B., who at the time of the entry, but not at the time of the alteration, was ex-officio clerk of the board. B. testified, against objection, that he made the alteration to correct what appeared to him, on examination,' to be a clerical error of his deputy, now deceased, the then acting clerk of the board. The “rough minute-book,” containing the original entry from which the record was made, and to which the altered record conformed, was also admitted against objection. Held, that it was error for the court to admit the order in evidence.</p> <p>Swamp Lands — Assessment •— Record — Alteration—Parol Evidence.—Held, further, that the order was a record which B. had no right to alter or amend, and that parol proof was inadmissible to correct or change the record.</p> <p>Swamp Land—Assessment Lists—Description.—Under Political Code, section 3461, requiring. certain assessment lists to contain “a description, by legal subdivisions, swamp-land surveys, or natural boundaries,” a description, naming the adjoining proprietors on the respective boundaries, is sufficient.</p> <p>Swamp Land — Assessments and Benefits — Duty of Commissioners.—Political Code, section 3456, provides that assessments for swamp-land improvements shall be proportionate to the resulting benefit, and section 3461 provides, among other requisites, that the list must contain “the amount of the charge assessed against each tract.” The list in question conformed to the requirements of section 3461. Held, that the commissioners were not require