THE CODES OF CALIFORNIA AS AMENDED AND IN FORCE AT THE CLOSE OF THE Reformed Political Code.-The California legislature, at the thirty-seventh and thirty-eighth sessions, made numerous and radical changes in the Political Code respecting, among other things, government of counties; general elections and primary elections; the insurance commissioner; the national guard; permanent road districts; salaries and fees of officers of counties; the schools; the state militia; the preparation of the state budget, etc. Entirely new provisions were introduced in many places, and many new chapters and articles added; among which may be mentioned the following: To Part II, Title V, chapter IIa is added; to Part III, Title II, chapter I, article VII is added; to Part III, Title III, chapter III, articles XIV and XV are added; to Part III, Title V, chapters Ib, Ic, IVa and IVb are added; to Part III, Title VI, chapter II, a new article IX is added, repealing the old article IX; to Part III, Title VIII, chapter I, article IIa is added; and Title II of Part IV is entirely swept away, and there is substituted in its place nearly all of the County Government Act of 1897, as subsequently amended. This Title II related to the government of counties, but was more comprehensive, so far as the minuteness of its provisions are concerned, than the County Government Act was; so that the repeal of that part, and the substitution of the major portion of the County Government Act, leaves many things, which were heretofore provided for, without any regulation. No portion of the County Government Act was repealed, and it was not all carried, by codification, into the Political Code. I am not unmindful of the obiter remark of Mr. Chief Justice Beatty, in the case of Smith vs. Mathews (June 25, 1909), 103 Pac. Rep. 199, 201, regarding the scope of the codifying act of 1907. Among the sections of the County Government Act which M627511 are not codified is § 13. This section prescribes the mode of procedure on exercise of the "right of petition" to the board of supervisors; and being the only provision on the subject found either in the codes or the statutes, is liable to form the basis of important litigation. The decision of our supreme court in the case of Ex parte Andrew Anderson, 134 Cal. 69, 72, 86 Am. St. Rep. 236, 66 Pac. 194, goes to one, only, of the four distinct things specifically provided in said § 13; the provisions as to the three other things are still in full force. Thorough and methodical preparation.-Title II of Part IV being one of the most important divisions of the Political Code, the editor has been at especial pains to give to the bench and bar all the help in his power with reference to the new Title II. It is pointed out at the end of the history added to each section just what section or parts of sections, of the County Government Act are codified in the new section. In addition to this labor, it has been sought to collect all the cases in which the County Government Act has heretofore been discussed or passed upon, and these are distributed to the present sections of the Political Code. The new sections of the new Title II cover the same ground, in most instances, formerly covered by sections of the repealed Title II,although the language used in the present Title II is almost universally the exact language of the County Government Act. The editor has pointed out which of these former sections correspond with or are comprised within the present sections, and has carried all cases passing upon or discussing the repealed section into the annotations appended. The result is a complete assemblation of all previous adjudications in regard to the sections of the former code provisions and of the County Government Act, in a systematic and usable form. The same general plan of editorial work in the Pocket Codes already issued has been followed herein. All cases passing upon or referring to the sections are given, with a statement of the holding of the court; valuable annotations and monographic notes appearing in selected and annotated cases, etc., are referred to; the thorough system of cross-reference to other sections of the Political Code and to pertinent sections of the other codes, is maintained; the table of errors in the official reports corrected, is included, etc., etc. Collateral inheritance-tax.-The amount of statute matter, and the character of the provisions, did not permit of such exhaustive and so many annotations as are found in the other codes; but some exhaustive notes will be found, such as the one on the Collateral Inheritance-Tax Law, appended to § 3752. The editor has had valuable help from Mr. W. S. Church, of the San Francisco bar, in tracing the sources of codified sections, collation of cases, and other important details of the work. In bringing this work to a close, the editor wishes to express his gratitude to the profession of the state for the many appreciative words of commendation of, and liberal patronage extended to, this Pocket Edition of the California Codes. One of the compensating features of legal authorship (not taken account of in the royalty-roll) is the satisfaction that comes from work thoroughly and intelligently done, of knowing that the completed work is appreciated and valued by the profession,-it adds zest to new undertakings. San Francisco, November 9, 1909. JAMES M. KERR. |