Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-07-10

tive to Municipal Corporations, and an Appen-
dix containing list of the officers of City Gov
eminent from 1919 to 1881 inclusive. compiled
by Robert 4. Devlin, Attorney at law and
by the Valley Press Printing House, 1881, II. A.
Weaver. Printer, 3Z7 street, was published by
authority of the Board of Trustees OF the City of
Sacramento, and the clerk OF this Board is
hereby directed to cause TO be printed q state
ment under his hand, and the seal of the Board
setting forth the fact of said publication by said
authority, as a suitable fy-leaf and attach the
same to each copy of said book in his posses
sion or that may be presented to him for that
purpose.
Mr.. johnson was present and stated that
by FASTING this fy-leaf into the copies
of the Devlin compilation they would
become prima .facie evidence that the ordi-
nances had been regularly and legally
passed and authenticated, but he admitted
that such evidence would not be conclusive.
1t would, however, throw the burden Of
proof on the defense.
After further consultation the Board de-
cided to take still further steps 10 cure any
defect there may be in the ordinances, and
employed Mr.. Johnson to look up the
matter farther and present some method
which would make the ordinances valid
beyond any question. The Board will
hold a meeting sometime this week, upon
the receipt of Mr.. Johnson's opinion, and
take action in the matter.
THEY MAY BE ALL RIGHT.
Notwithstanding the decision of Judge
Buckley and the fact that the decision Of
the Supreme Court in the case of The CITY
of Napa VS.. A. Y. Easterby seems to cover
the case entirely, there is grave doubt
whether it does OF not. The provi-
sions of our charter are not the same as
those IN the charter of Napa City,
quoted in the above decision. Sec
ton Is of Article II. of our charter
simply provides that the Board of Trustees
shall publish all ordinances for ten days
IN some newspaper published in said city,
The provision of the charter of Napa
City is entirely different. 1t provides that
the Trustees " shall cause to be published in
some newspaper in the city all ordinances, -
and that mo ordinance shall take effect
and be in force until ten days from the first
publication thereof" Here is q direct re-
quirement that the Board shall order the
publication, and this was one of the points
on which the decision turned. Our charter
does not say thst the ordinances shall not
take effect and be in force until they are
published, but decisions have been rem
dered under which il would probably be
held that such was the implied meaning of
the provision.
Dul DeSlCe lDlS. lnere IS enOtler law IN
force which would seem to save the Devlin
compilation if it should be held that under
our charter it is not necessary for the Board
to order the publication, If the publication
can be proven. Section | of " An Act sup
Elementary to the Act of April %, 1868,
entitled an Act incorporating the city of
Sacramento" approved March 2S, 1867,
reads:
I" In any action or proceeding, either
civil or criminal, for violation or breach
of any ordinance of the city of Sacramento,
a copy of such ordinance published or pur-
porting to have peen published by author
ity, or published or purporting to have been
published in the official newspaper of the
city, shall be prima facie evidence that
such ordinance has been regularly and le-
gally passed and authenticated, and that the
provisions of the ordinance are as pub
lished.'
There is at least a good deal of doubt as
to whether the decision in the Napa case
applies to our ordinances, and the Trustees
should give the matter careful attention be-
fore taking action. If, however, the de-
cision does apply and our ordinances are
invalid, by reason of the failure of the
Board to order their publication, they
should take speedy action to have all de-
fects cured, no matter at what expense.