punishable by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars or more than two hundred and fifty dollars.

SEC. 12. If any person or persons, company, or corporation, in driving or herding any sheep, should get into their herd any stray sheep, they shall immediately notify the owner thereof; and if the owner is unknown, he or they shall forthwith notify the deputy sheep inspector of such county, giving the number of such sheep and the brands of each; and any person, persons, company, or corporation violating the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not less than twenty-five dollars nor more than two hundred dollars.

SEC. 13. All deputy sheep inspectors are hereby given the power, and it is hereby made their duty to arrest and bring before a justice of the peace, or other court having jurisdiction of the same, any and all persons found violating the provisions of this act, where a complaint shall be filed by such deputy sheep inspector, either upon his own knowledge or upon sworn complaint of such violation, whereupon a hearing shall be had as in other like criminal cases; and such deputy sheep inspectors are hereby vested with the same authority to arrest and to require aid in the execution of their said office as sheriffs and their deputies of the several counties of this state; provided, that the provisions of this act requiring the deputy sheep inspectors of the county to prosecute for a violation of the provisions of this act requiring the deputy sheep inspectors of the county to prosecute for a violation of the provisions of this act shall not be construed so as to prevent such prosecutions from being commenced and prosecuted by other persons as criminal action are commenced and prosecuted in other cases.

SEC. 15. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

Power to open, etc., streets.

CHAPTER CCLXVIII.

An act to provide for the laying out, opening, extending, widening, or straightening, in whole or in part, of public streets, squares, lanes, alleys, courts, and places, within municipalities, for the condemnation of property necessary or convenient for such purposes, and for the establishment of assessment districts and the assessment of property therein to pay the expense of such improvement.

[Approved March 24, 1903.]

The people of the State of California, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. Whenever the public interest or convenience may require, the city council of any municipality shall have full power and authority to order the laying out, opening, extending, widening, or straightening, in whole or in part, of any public street, square, lane, alley, court, or place within

such municipality, and to acquire, by condemnation, any and all property necessary or convenient for that purpose.

tion of

SEC. 2. Before ordering any improvement to be made, which Declarais authorized by section one of this act, the city council shall intention. pass an ordinance declaring its intention to do so, describing the improvement, and the land necessary or convenient to be taken therefor, and specifying the boundaries of the district to be benefited by said improvement, and to be assessed to pay the expense thereof, and to be known as the assessment district. SEC. 3. The street superintendent shall thereupon cause to Notice to be posted be conspicuously posted along all streets and parts of streets and pubwithin the assessment district described in said ordinance, at lished. not more than three hundred feet in distance apart, notices (not less than three in all) of the passage of said ordinance. Said notices shall be headed, "Notice of public work," in letters not less than one inch in length, shall be in legible characters, and shall state the fact and date of the passage of said ordinance, and briefly describe the improvement proposed, and refer to said ordinance for further particulars. He shall also cause a notice similar in substance to be published for a period of five days, in a daily newspaper published and circulated in said municipality, and designated by said city council for that purpose, or if there is no such daily newspaper, then by four successive insertions in a weekly newspaper so published, circulated, and designated.

SEC. 4. Any person interested, objecting to said improve- Protests. ment, or to the extent of the assessment district described in said ordinance of intention, may file a written protest with the clerk of the city council, within thirty days after the first publication of the notice required by section three of this act. The clerk shall indorse on every such protest the date of its reception by him, and, at the next regular meeting of the city council after the expiration of the time for filing protests, shall present to said city council all protests so filed with him. If such protests are against the said improvement, and said city council finds that the same are signed by the owners of a majority of the frontage of the property fronting on streets or parts of streets within said assessment district, all further proceedings under said ordinance of intention shall be barred, and no new ordinance of intention for the same improvement shall be passed within six months after the presentation of such protests to the city council, unless the owners of a majority of the frontage of the property fronting on streets or parts of streets within said assessment district shall in the meantime petition therefor. If such protests are against the improvement, and the council finds that they are not signed by the owners of a majority of the frontage of the property fronting on streets or parts of streets within the assessment district, or if such protests are only against the extent of the assessment district, the council shall hear said protests at said meeting, or at any time to which the hearing thereof may be adjourned, and pass upon the same, and its decision shall be final and conclusive. If such protests are sustained, no further proceedings shall be had under said

1

Order for improvement.

Action for

condemna

tion.

Complaint;

set forth.

ordinance of intention, but a new ordinance of intention for the same improvement may be passed at any time. If such protests are denied, the proceedings shall continue as if such protests had not been made. At the expiration of the time within which protests may be filed, if none are filed, or if protests are filed, and after hearing are denied, as above provided, then upon such denial, the city council shall acquire jurisdiction to order the improvement described in the ordinance of intention.

SEC. 5. Having acquired jurisdiction, the city council shall, by ordinance, order said improvement to be made, and direct an action to be brought by the city attorney, in the proper superior court, in the name of the municipality, for the condemnation of the property necessary or convenient to be taken therefor. Such ordinance need not describe the property to be taken, nor the assessment district, but may refer to the ordinance of intention for all particulars.

SEC. 6. Said action must be brought within sixty days after the passage of the ordinance ordering the improvement, but the council may, by ordinance, extend the time for the bringing of such action. Said action shall, in all respects, be subject to and governed by such rules of the Code of Civil Procedure now existing, or that may be hereafter adopted, as may be applicable thereto, except in the particulars otherwise provided for in this act.

SEC. 7. The complaint shall set forth, or state the effect of, what shall the ordinance of intention, and the ordinance ordering the improvement, but need not set up any other proceedings had before the bringing of the action. Said ordinances shall be conclusive evidence, in such action, of the public necessity of the proposed improvement, and also that the same is located in the manner which will be most compatible with the greatest public good and the least private injury.

Referees.

Duty of referees.

SEC. 8. If a jury is waived by the defendants, or any of them, the court must appoint three disinterested persons referees, to ascertain the compensation to be paid to such defendants waiving a jury. Such referees must be residents of the municipality where such improvement is to be made, and over the age of twenty-one years, and must take and file with the court an oath to discharge their duties faithfully and impartially. If any of such referees fails to qualify, or resigns, or is, or becomes, unable to act, the vacancy so created shall be filled by the court.

SEC. 9. The referees shall at once proceed to view the lands sought to be condemned, and ascertain the compensation proper to be paid to such of the parties interested in each parcel thereof as have waived a jury. They shall have power to examine witnesses under oath, to be administered by any of them, and may have subpoenas issued by the clerk of the court requiring the attendance of witnesses, or the production of evidence before them. They shall, as soon as practicable, make and file with the court a written report of their findings, and also of the number of days spent by them in the matter

Any two of

of such reference, and of their necessary expenses. such referees who agree thereto, may make such report. SEC. 10. The referees or jury, as the case may be, shall find Findings. separately:

First-The value of each parcel of property sought to be condemned, and all improvements thereon pertaining to the realty, and of each separate estate or interest therein;

Second-If any parcel of property sought to be condemned is only a part of a larger parcel, the damages which will accrue to the portion not sought to be condemned, and to each separate estate or interest therein, by reason of its severance from the portion sought to be condemned, and the construction of the improvement in the manner proposed by the plaintiff. Such damages must be fixed irrespective of any benefit from such improvement.

report.

SEC. 11. Upon the filing of such report, the court must, on Hearing of motion of any party, appoint a day for hearing the same. Notice of the time and place of said hearing must be served on all the parties who have answered at least five days before the time appointed. At said hearing, any party to the action may appear and file his exceptions, in writing, to said report, and contest the same. After hearing the report, and any exceptions thereto, the court may confirm the report, or may modify it and confirm it as modified, or may set it aside and order a new report, from the same referees, or from new referees to be appointed. If new referees are appointed, the same proceedings shall be had as upon the first reference.

judgment.

SEC. 12. Upon confirmation of the report of the referees, Interlocuand receipt of the verdict of the jury, the court shall make and enter an interlocutory judgment in accordance with such report and verdict, adjudging that upon payment to the respective parties, or into court for their benefit, of the several amounts found due them, as compensation, and of the costs allowed to them, the property involved in the action shall be condemned to the use of the plaintiff, and dedicated to the use specified in the complaint. The court shall allow to the referees, as costs to be paid by the plaintiff, a reasonable compensation for their services, not exceeding five dollars, each, for each day necessarily spent in the matter of the reference, and their necessary expenses.

SEC. 13. An appeal may be taken from such interlocutory Appeal. judgment within thirty days from the entry thereof, and from any order granting or denying a new trial within ten days after the entry thereof.

SEC. 14. The city council may, at any time prior to the council payment of the compensation awarded the defendants, abandon mayabanthe proceedings, by ordinance, and cause the said action to be ceedings. dismissed, without prejudice; and if any of the assessments levied to pay the expense of the improvement, as hereinafter provided, shall have been actually paid in money at the time of such abandonment, the same shall be refunded to the persons by whom they were paid.

Diagram of improvement.

Assessment of expense.

Assessment shall describe

SEC. 15. Upon the entry of the interlocutory judgment, the city council shall order the city engineer, or if there be no city engineer, any civil engineer whom it may employ for that purpose, to make and deliver to the street superintendent, a diagram of the improvement and of the property within the assessment district described in the ordinance of intention. Said diagram shall show the land to be taken for the proposed improvement, and also each separate lot, piece, or parcel of land within the assessment district, and the dimensions of each such lot, piece, or parcel of land, and the relative location of the same to the proposed improvement.

SEC. 16. The street superintendent, upon receiving the said diagram, shall proceed to assess the total expense of the proposed improvement upon and against the lands, including the property of any railroad, within said assessment district, except the land to be taken for such improvement, in proportion to the benefits to be received from said improvement. The total expense of the improvement so to be assessed shall include the amounts awarded to the defendants by the interlocutory judgment in the action for condemnation, the compensation and expenses of the referees, as allowed by the court, and all other costs of the plaintiff in such action, the expenses of making the assessment, and all expenses necessarily incurred by said city, in connection with the proposed improvement, for maps, diagrams, plans, surveys, searches and certificates of title to the property to be taken, and all other matters incident thereto. SEC. 17. The street superintendent shall make the said assessment in writing. Such assessment shall describe each each piece. lot, piece, or parcel of land assessed for said improvement, and shall designate each such lot, piece, or parcel of land with an appropriate number. The street superintendent shall also designate each such lot, piece, or parcel of land on said diagram, with a number corresponding with the number thereof in said assessment, and said diagram shall thereupon be attached to and become and be deemed to be a part of said assessment. Such assessment shall show the total sum to be raised thereby, as herein before provided, and also the items of such total sum, and opposite each lot, piece, or parcel of land assessed, the amount assessed thereon, and the name of the owner thereof, if known to the street superintendent; or if the owner's name is unknown, the word "unknown" shall be written instead of such name. Any error or mistake in the designation of the owner of any lot, piece, or parcel of land, or in the particulars of his interest therein, shall not affect the validity of the assessment.

Notice of filing of

SEC. 18. As soon as said assessment is completed the street assessment Superintendent shall file the same, with the diagram attached thereto and made a part thereof as aforesaid, with the clerk of the council, who shall give notice of such filing by publication for, at least, ten days in a daily newspaper published and circulated in the city, or if there be no such daily newspaper, by three successive insertions in a weekly newspaper so published and circulated. Said notice shall require all persons.