List of property charged. To be filed Treasurer. the district was formed, a statement of the work to be done and its estimated cost, and the Board must make an order directing that the Commissioners who made the original assessment, or other Commissioners, to be named in such order, to assess the amount of such estimated cost as a charge upon the lands in the district, which assessment must be made and collected in the same manner as the original assessment. SEC. 13. The Commissioners appointed by the Board of Supervisors must make a list of the charges assessed against each district of land, and the list must contain a description of each tract assessed, the number of acres in each tract, and the names of the owners in each tract, if known, and if unknown, the amount of charges assessed against each tract. SEC. 14. The list so made must be filed with the County with County Treasurer of the county, or, if the district is partly situated in different counties, then the original list must be filed in the county first in order under alphabetical arrangement, and copies thereof, certified by the Commissioners, must be filed with the Treasurers of each of the other counties. From and after the filing of the list, or certified copies thereof, the charges assessed upon any tract of land in the county constitutes a lien thereon; and the list thus prepared must remain in the office of the Treasurer for thirty days, or longer if ordered by the Board of Trustees; and during the time they so remain, any person may pay the amount of the charges against any tract to the Treasurer without costs; or, if so ordered by the Board of Trustees, said payments may be by installments; and if, at the end of thirty days, or of the longer period fixed by Trustees, all of the charges, or all of any installments ordered by them, have not been paid, the Treas. urer must return the list to the District Attorney, who must at once proceed by civil action to collect such charges. Trustees to keep accounts and condemn property. District without Trustees. SEC. 15. The work must be executed under the direction and in the manner prescribed by the Board of Trustees. SEC. 16. The Board must keep accurate accounts of all expenditures, which accounts, and all contracts that may be made by them, are open to the inspection of the Board of Supervisors, and every person interested. SEC. 17. The Trustees may acquire, by purchase, all property necessary to carry out and maintain the system of drainage provided for. SEC. 18. The Trustees may acquire, by condemnation, the right of way for canals, drains, embankments, and other works necessary, and may take materials for the construction, maintenance, and repair thereof from lands outside of as well as in the limits of said district. SEC. 19. The provisions of title seven, part three, of the Code of Civil Procedure, are applicable to, and condemnation herein provided for must be made thereinunder. SEC. 20. Whenever any district susceptible of one mode of drainage, entirely owned by parties who desire to drain the same, and to manage such drainage without the intervention of Trustees, of the establishment of by-laws, they may file the petition provided for in sections one and two, and must state therein that they intend to undertake such drainage on their own responsibility. If the petition is granted, the owners of the land have all the rights, immunities, and privileges granted to Boards of Trustees, and in all proceedings the names of owners may be used instead of the names of Trustees. SEC. 21. This Act shall take effect upon its passage. CHAPTER CLIX. An Act to amend section three thousand four hundred and ninetyfive and three thousand five hundred of the Political Code, in relation to the sale of State school lands. [Approved March 18, 1885.] The People of the State of California, represented in Senate and SECTION 1. Section three thousand four hundred and ninety-five of the Political Code is hereby amended to read thus: upon applica 500,000 асге teenth and sections. 3495. Any person desiring to purchase any portion, not Affidavit less than the smallest legal subdivision of any of the lands tion to purmentioned in section three thousand four hundred and chase any of ninety-four, situated in any township which has been sur- grant or part veyed by the United States, must make an affidavit that he of the sixis a citizen of the United States, or has filed his intention to thirty-sixth become such, a resident of this State, of lawful age; that he desires to purchase such lands (describing the same by legal subdivisions) under the provisions of this title; that there is no occupation of such lands adverse to any that he has, or if there is an adverse occupation, the affidavit must show that the township has been sectionized three months, and that the adverse occupant (giving his name) has been in such occupation more than sixty days since the plat was filed in the United States Land Office; that he desires to purchase the same for his own use and benefit, and for the use or benefit of no other person or persons whomsoever, and that he has made no contract or agreement to sell the same. The What affidaaffidavit must also state whether the land is or is not suitable vit must for cultivation; and if it is, that the applicant is an actual Limit culti settler thereon, and that he has not entered any portion of vatable. any lands mentioned in section three thousand four hundred and ninety-four, which, together with that now sought to be purchased, exceeds three hundred and twenty acres; but if Limit unculthe land is not suitable for cultivation, the affidavit must further state that the applicant has not entered any portion of such lands, which, together with that now sought to be entered, exceeds six hundred and forty acres. Lands unsuit- When settleable for cultivation may be sold in quantities not exceeding ment not six hundred and forty acres to any one person, under the restriction other than as to actual settlement prescribed for state. tivatable. required. SurveyorGeneral to make rules. tutes suita bility for cultivation. the sale of cultivable lands. The Surveyor-General and Register of the Land Office must make and enforce all necessary rules and regulations to prevent the sale of school lands suitable for cultivation to any person not an actual settler What consti- thereon; provided, that any smallest legal subdivision of school lands shall be deemed suitable for cultivation if any part not less than one half of its area will, without artificial irrigation, but with or without the clearing of timber or other growth therefrom, by the ordinary processes of tillage, produce ordinary agricultural crops in average quantity; and, provided further, that any contest of the applicant's right to referred to purchase arising from the character of the land as cultivat May be Superior Court. False statement. able or otherwise, may be referred to the Superior Court of the proper county, as in other cases, for determination. SEC. 2. Section three thousand five hundred of said Code is amended to read thus: 3500. Any false statement contained in the affidavit provided for in section three thousand four hundred and ninetyfive, defeats the right of the applicant to purchase the land, or to receive any evidence of title thereto, and, if willfully Timber lands false, subjects him also to punishment for perjury. Timber to be sold for lands belonging to this State shall be sold for cash only, and the Surveyor-General and Register of the State Land Office must make and enforce all necessary rules and regulations to prevent the sale of or issuance of any evidence of title to any timber lands of this State, except on payment, in cash, of the full price fixed therefor by law. cash, at full price. Heir to file petition. CHAPTER CLX. An Act to amend an Act entitled "An Act to establish a Code of Civil Procedure," and for the purpose of determining the heirship and title to the estates of deceased persons. [Approved March 18, 1885.] The People of the State of California, represented in Senate and SECTION 1. A new section is hereby added to the Code of Civil Procedure, to be known as section sixteen hundred and sixty-four, to read as follows: 1664. In all estates now being administered, or that may hereafter be administered, any person claiming to be heir to the deceased, or entitled to distribution in whole or in any part of such estate, may, at any time after the expiration of one year from the issuing of letters testamentary or of administration upon such estate, file a petition in the matter of such estate, praying the Court to ascertain and declare the rights of all persons to said estate and all interests therein, and to whom distribution thereof should be made. Upon the filing make order of such petition, the Court shall make an order directing service of notice to all persons interested in said estate to appear Court to directing notice. of property. and show cause, on a day to be therein named, not less than sixty days nor over four months from the date of the making of such order, in which notice shall be set forth the name of the deceased, the name of the executor or administrator of said estate, the names of all persons who may have appeared claiming any interest in said estate in the course of the administration of the same, up to the time of the making of said order, and such other persons as the Court may direct, and also a description of the real estate whereof said deceased Description died seized or possessed, so far as known, described with certainty to a common intent, and requiring all said persons, and all persons named or not named having or claiming any interest in the estate of said deceased, at the time and place in said order specified, to appear and exhibit, as hereinafter provided, their respective claims of heirship, ownership, or interest in said estate, to said Court, which notice shall be served in the same manner as a summons in a civil action, upon proof of which service, by affidavit or otherwise, to the satisfaction of the Court, the Court shall thereupon acquire jurisdiction to ascertain and determine the heirship, ownership, and interest of all parties in and to the property of said deceased, and such determination shall be final and conclusive in the administration of said estate, and the title and ownership of said property. The Court shall enter an order or decree establishing proof of the service of such notice. All persons appearing within the time limited as aforesaid, shall file their written appearance in person or through their authorized attorney, such attorney filing at the same time written evidence of his authority to so appear, entry of which appearance shall be made in the minutes of the Court and in the register of proceedings of said estate. And the Court shall, after the expiration of the time limited for appearing as aforesaid, enter an order adjudging the default of all persons for not appearing as aforesaid, who shall not have appeared as aforesaid. At any time within twenty days after the date of the order or decree of the Court establishing proof of the service of such notice, any of such persons so appearing may file his complaint in the matter of the estate, setting forth the facts constituting his claim of heirship, ownership, or interest in said estate, with such reasonable particularity as the Court may require, and serve a copy of the same upon each of the parties or attorneys who shall have entered their written appearance as aforesaid, if such parties or such attorneys reside within the county; and in case any of them do not reside within the county, then service of such copy of said complaint shall be made upon the Clerk of said Court for them, and the Clerk shall forthwith mail the same to the address of such party or attorney as may have left with said Clerk his Post Office address. Such parties are allowed twenty days after the service of the complaint, as aforesaid, within which to plead thereto, and thereafter such proceedings shall be had upon such complaint as in this Code provided in case of an ordinary civil action; and the issues of law and of fact arising in the proceeding shall be disposed of in petition to be plaintiff. Notice of taking deposition. like manner as issues of law and fact are herein provided to be disposed of in civil actions, with a like right to a motion for a new trial and appeal to the Supreme Court; and the provisions in this Code contained regulating the mode of procedure for the trial of civil actions, the motion for a new trial of civil actions, statements on motion for a new trial, bills of exception, and statements on appeal, as also in regard to undertakings on appeal, and the mode of taking and perfecting appeals, and the time within which such appeals shall be taken, shall be applicable thereto; provided, however, that all appeals herein must be taken within sixty days from the date of the entry of the judgment or the order complained Party filing of. The party filing the petition as aforesaid, if he file a complaint, and if not, the party first filing such complaint, shall, in all subsequent proceedings, be treated as the plaintiff therein, and all other parties so appearing shall be treated as the defendants in said proceedings, and all such defendants shall set forth in their respective answers the facts constituting their claim of heirship, ownership, or interest in said estate, with such particularity as the Court may require, and serve a copy thereof on the plaintiff. Evidence in support of all issues may be taken orally or by deposition, in the same manner as provided in civil actions. Notice of the taking of such depositions shall be served only upon the parties, or the attorneys of the parties, so appearing in said proceeding. The Court shall enter a default of all persons failing to appear, or plead, or prosecute, or defend their rights as aforesaid; and upon the trial of the issues arising upon the pleadings in such proceeding, the Court shall determine the heirship to said deceased, the ownership of his estate, and the interest of each respective claimant thereto or therein, and persons entitled to distribution thereof, and the final determination of the Court thereupon shall be final and conclusive in the distribution of said estate, and in regard to the title to all the property of the estate of said deceased. The cost of the proceedings under this section shall be apportioned in the discretion of the Court. In any proceeding under this section, the Court may appoint an attorney for any minor mentioned in said proceedings not having a guardian. Nothing in this section contained shall be construed to exclude the right upon final distribution of any estate to contest the question of heirship, title, or interest in the estate so distributed, where the same shall not have been determined under the provisions of this section; but where such questions shall have been litigated, under the provisions of this section, the determination thereof as herein provided shall be conclusive in the distribution of said estate. Attorney for minor. |