The San Francisco call., 1898-06-17
SUPERVISORS
 NOT JUDGES Result of a Grasp for Judicial Power. ASSESSMENTS ARE INVALID. STREET COMMISSIONS APPOINT ED UNDER ILLEGAL ORDERS. It May Mean the Loss of All the Present Extension Boards and
 of Much Time and
 Money.

In passing upon the legal status of the
 assessment for the extension of Potrero
 avenue City and County Attorney Cres-
 well has found something which may ren-
 der invalid all assessments and extensions
 proceeding under a certain form of order which the Supervisors were in the habit
 of passing whenever it was necessary to extend street.
 The opinion was rendered in pursuance
 of a petition to the Board of Supervisors from the Mission League of Improvement
 Clubs asking that the remainder of the assessment due be collected as it made a cloud on the titles of all those persons de- linouent. The assessment had been levied by a commission holding office by virtue
 of an order of the Supervisors. After l S25, GOO had been paid the collection of fur
 ther assessments was stopped by injunc- ton and the assessments in the cases of forty or fifty property owners were an-
 nulled. It is the remaining sums due on
 the assessments of those not included in
 the Judgment that 1t was asked would be rectified.
 In his opinion, MT. Creswell declares that the whole proceeding was illegal, as the power of the commission was derived from an order which had been expressly declared unconstitutional. In the order l which the Supreme Court declared was
 unconstitutional the following words ap- near: The property lis hereby condemned, appropriated. acquired, set apart and taken for public use" In using this Ian | guage the court said, the Supervisors | took to themselves judicial functions,
 overstepping the limit of their legislative | functions, and therefore the order was
 void. It was an order for the extension of
 Market street. In the order for the exten- sion of Potrero avenue, exactly the same | language is used, so MT. Creswell saw l nothing to do but advise the board that
 the assessment could not be collected nor 1 could it form lien on any of the prop 1 erty as it was void from the start and
 never had been legal.
 It appears that the order in question
 was formulated on the same lines as all
 the others, evidently copy of some form | with the descriptions of the property filled 1 in to suit the case, and so there are many | other street extension assessments which
 will have to follow the track of that of | Market street and Potrero avenue It is even possible that those who have paid | their assessments, wholly or in part, can | have the amount they paid in returned to | them, and there are number of street l extensions now under way which may | be seriously hampered by the little joker l that plays so important place in the or | ders giving power to the commissions. | The Supervisors have no judicial pow CTS: they have only legislative powers, and | they cannot ''condemn,' "set apart nor
 acquire" by the mere passing of an or | der stating that they do so.
 | The amount involved in the Potrero av- enue assessment is $241 POP G. and there is over a million and a half involved in other assessments which may be affected l by the defective paragraph.