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47. An act of the legislature prohibiting, under a penalty, the pursuing of any ordinary business on the Christian Sabbath or Sunday, is in conflict with the first and fourth sections of article first of the constitution, and is therefore void. Ex parte Newman, 9 Cal. R. 502.

48. Such an act would be, in effect, a discrimination in favor of one religious profession over all others, and as such would be in violation of the constitution. Id.

49. The act of April 10, 1858, to provide for the better observance of the Sabbath, declared unconstitutional. Id.

50. The right of property in slaves is recognized by the constitution of the United States; and the right of transit through each state with every species of property known to that constitution, is secured by that instrument as the paramount law to each citizen, and does not depend upon the uncertain and changeable ground of mere comity. In the matter of Archy, 9 Cal. R. 147.

51. This privilege extends only to a party who comes into the state for pleasure or health, and if he engages in business, or employs his slave in any business except as a personal attendant upon himself or family, the privilege is lost, and his slave is entitled to his freedom under the eighteenth section of article first of the state constitution. Id.

52. The federal office of surveyor-general is a "lucrative of fice," and the office of comptroller of state an "office of profit," under the twenty-first section of the fourth article of the constitution of this state. People ex rel. v. Whitman, 10 Cal. R. 38.

53. To constitute the "holding" of an office, within the meaning of the constitution, there must be the concurrence of two bills that of the appointing power, and that of the person appointed. Id.

54. The failure on the part of the comptroller elect to qualify creates no vacancy in the office; and in this case the incumbent holds over until his successor is elected and qualified. Id.

55. The executive can appoint only when there is no incumbent. Id.

56. The first clause of the fourth section of article six of the constitution, which section provides, that "the supreme court shall have appellate jurisdiction in all cases when the matter in dispute exceeds two hundred dollars; when the legality of any tax, toll, or impost, or municipal fine is in question; and in all criminal cases amounting to felony, on questions of law alone," is construed to mean that the supreme court shall possess appellate jurisdiction in all cases; provided, that when the subject of litigation is capable of pecuniary computation, the matter in dispute must exceed in value or amount two hundred dollars, unless a question of the legality of a tax, toll, impost, or muni

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cipal fine is drawn in question. Conant v. Conant, 10 Cal. 249.

57. The supreme court possesses appellate jurisdiction from a decree rendered in a suit for divorce from the bonds of matrimony. Id.

58. The act of the legislature, giving the power to the late superior court of the city of San Francisco, to send its process Hickman v. beyond its territorial limits, was constitutional. O'Neal, 10 Cal. R. 292.

59. There is no constitutional provision prohibiting the legislature giving to an inferior court the right to have its orders or judgments enforced beyond its territorial limits. Id.

60. A judgment rendered in one state, and upon which suit is instituted in another, is a contract in the sense of the constitution. Scarborough v. Dugan, 10 Cal. R. 305.

61. The legislature has no right so to regulate the remedy, as that it shall destroy the contract by denying all means of enforcement. Id.

62. The twenty-fifth section of article six of the constitution, which requires that every law enacted by the legislature shall embrace but one object, and that shall be expressed in the title, . is merely directory; it does not defeat laws passed in violation of it. Pierpont v. Crouch, 10 Cal. 315.

63. The court of sessions under the constitution, can only exercise powers of a judicial character. Hardenburg et. al. v. Kidd et. al., 10 Cal. R. 402.

64. The assessment of taxes is not a judicial act; it partakes of no element of a judicial character. It is a legislative act; it requires the exercise of legislative power, which, for certain governmental purposes in the county, may be devolved upon a board of supervisors, but cannot be delegated to any branch of the judicial department. Id.

65. The provisions of the revenue act of 1853 and 1854, authorizing the court of sessions to assess a tax for county purposes are unconstitutional, and the assessment made thereunder, and a subsequent levy upon and sale of property in the enforcement of such assessment, are void. Id.

66. Section fifth of article six of the constitution providing for the election of district judges, declares that they "shall hold their office for the term of six years." The legislature can direct the time, and prescribe the mode of election, but cannot change the tenure of the office. That part of the act of the legislature providing, in case of a vacancy in the office of district judge, for an election "to fill an unexpired term," is unconstitutional. The people ex. rel. v. Burbank, January T., 1859.

67. The election was valid, and the judge elect was entitled to hold the office for the full term of six years, notwithstanding

the proclamation of the governor was for an unexpired term, and the commission to the same effect. The function of the proclamation was not to declare the law but the fact of a vacancy. Id. See also, the People v. Templeton, and the People v, Norton, same term.

68. Sections fifty-six and fifty-seven of the Consolidation Act, applicable to the city of San Francisco, passed April 19, 1858, providing for the repairing of the streets, is constitutional. Hart v. Gaven, January T., 1859.

69. An act providing for the repairing the streets is in the nature of a tax, and, if uniform and equal in its operation, as applying to all the streets of a municipality, is not in conflict with the thirteenth section of article eleven of the constitution. Id.

70. By the common law, which has been adopted in this state, an alien cannot acquire property by descent or other mere operation of law; the seventeenth section of article first of the constitution only removes the disability of aliens who are bona fide residents in the absence of any statute changing this rule. Farrell and Wife v. Enright, January T., 1859.

71. The legislature has no right to authorize one of its officers to enter upon and dispossess one of its citizens in actual possession of real estate with color of title. McCauley v. Weller, January T., 1859.

72. The act of February 26, 1858, authorizing the governor to enter and take possession of the state prison while in the legal custody of one entitled thereto, without providing any compensation therefor, was in violation of the eighth section of article first of the constitution. Id.

73. The constitutional limitation on the power of the legis lature will be strictly construed, and the limitation will extend no farther than the words used will carry out. Because the legislature is forbidden to contract a debt beyond a certain amount, and pledge the general fund for its payment, it does not follow that they may not authorize one or more counties to incur such debt, which would create a lien on the local not the general fund. Pattison v. Board of Supervisors of Yuba county, April T., 1859.

74. That part of the statute of March 23d, 1850, giving jurisdiction to the county judge to try a contested election for an office "in and for such county," is constitutional. Saunders v. Haynes, April T., 1859.

75. An inspector of customs of the United States, is not a lucrative office in the sense of the twenty-first section of article four, so as to render ineligible to a state office. Id.

76. The powers and duties of the judges of the supreme court are prescribed by the constitution, and the legislature can neither

add to or subtract from them. That part of the sixty-ninth section of the act of May 15th, 1854, is inoperative as applying to the judges of the supreme court. Houston v. Williams, January T., 1859.

77. The fourth section of article six of the constitution, providing, among other things, that the supreme court shall have jurisdiction, where the "amount in dispute exceeds two hundred dollars," is intended to apply to cases where the amount exceeds two hundred dollars exclusive of costs. Hildreth v. Gwindon, et al., January T., 1859.

78. The thirteenth section of article eleven of the constitution does not restrict the legislature either in the amount of tax which may be imposed, or the purposes to which it may be applied. The people ex rel. v. E. W. Burr et al., composing the Board of Fund Commissioners, April T., 1859.

79. The thirty-seventh section of article four of the constitution, is not a restriction upon the actual control of the legislature over the whole subject of municipal taxation at all times. Id.

80. The act of April 20th, 1858, providing of the funding and payment of outstanding claims against the city and county of San Francisco, is constitutional. Id.

81. The seventeenth section of article first of the constitution, providing that foreigners who are bona fide residents, may inherit, etc., does not restrict the power of the legislature to confer additional privileges. The People ex rel. v. R. C. Rogers, administrator, et al. April T., 1859.

82. The act of April 19th, 1856, concerning escheated estates is constitutional. Id.

CHAPTER II.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND PROOF OF INSTRUMENTS TO BE RECORDED,

AND OF SATISFACTION AND DISCHARGE OF JUDGMENTS AND OTHER LIENS.

By the laws of the states of California and Oregon, and of the territory of Washington, deeds, mortgages, and other instruments, must be recorded in the county in which any lands affected by such instrument lie, in order to give notice to all other parties of the transfer made, or other act performed by such instrument.

In California and Oregon, these instruments are recorded in the office of the county recorder, and in Washington in the office of the auditor. In California, the office of county recorder is in some counties united with that of county clerk.

The proper time for recording instruments, in California, is immediately after they are executed and delivered; in Oregon within thirty days; and in Washington within six months.

As a prerequisite to such recording, the instrument must be acknowledged or proved before the proper officer, and such acknowledgment or proof must be certified by the officer in the proper form; or the purposes of such recording will not be effected.

If such deed or other instrument be not lawfully acknowledged and recorded, it will still be valid between the parties to the same and their representatives-but will not hold good as against the title of a subsequent purchaser in good faith, and for a valuable consideration, whose deed shall have been duly acknowledged and recorded.

In California it is decided that open notorious possession of real estate by one having an unrecorded deed for it, at the time of the acquisition of title or deed by the subsequent vendee from the common vendor, is notice to the subsequent vendee; and such subsequent vendee or purchaser is not a purchaser in good

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