Amador ledger., 1909-11-12

/
for the plaintiff, is complete refuta-
tion of all of the grounds of invalidity
urged against the contract except the
specih hcatons I - That William Penny
Sr is the owner Of the printing office,
plant and building, and b. That Penry
Sr is an employee of William Penry Jr.
In other words the only legal question
involved here is Is a contract entered
into by an Individual with city neces-
sarily void because such individual is
the tenant or employer of city official?
or to state the question otherwise: Is a
city official from the mere fact alone
that he is the landlord or employee of
contractor Of The city interested in
directly in the contract with the city
within the meaning of the statute? II
such is the law then tenant of the
house of the city clerk can not lawfully
supply the city with bottle of ink, or
the merchant who employs a trustee to
post his books in the evening can not
recover for box of pens delivered to
the city.
No case has been found in California
or elsewhere where the precise question
here involved has been raised. While
it is true that in % Cyclopeda of Law
and Procedure the rule is stated ''that
an official being an employee renders
invalid contract between the city and
his employer, the only case there cited
in support of the text, in Foster VS..
Cape May Sc N. ]. L. 7S, but it I'D he
question was involved in that case, and
the rule stated in Cycopedia of Law
and Procedure is not therefor an autho-
riy.
AS throwing more or less light upon
this question as to what is the meaning
of the words interested indirectly in
this statute which provides that no
officer of city shall be interested
directly or indirectly in contract with
the city, reference may be had to the
law which prohibits Judge. from acting
in any case in which he is interested
The supreme court of this state in
Myer VS.. city of San Diego l2l Cal
page !02 in discussing what interest
would disqualfy judge, quoted with
approval the following language from
Northampton VS. Smith ii Met 800:
"We think it is not to be mere pos
sible contingent interest but one that is
visible, demonstrable, and capable of
precise proof. \ n 1t must be a pecu-
mary or proprietary interest n X
by which he will gain or lose something
by the result of the proceeding, = X n
1t must be certain, and not merely
possible or contingent "
Tested by the foregoing rules it is
evident that William Penry sr. has no
such interest in the contract made be-
tween the city and William Penry ir.
What was said in Meyer VS.. city of
San Diego Supra to the effect that the
interest of the official must be one that
is visible, demonstrable and capable of
precise proof, is peculiarly applicable to
the case at BAR and conditions may be
exactly imagined, which if inserted in
the agreement made between Penry sr.
and Penry jr. would have made the con-
tract of the latter with the city invalid.
Thus if the lease of the premises or
printing plant should continue only in
the event that Penny jr secured the
printing contract with the city; or if the
monthly rental Of such premises should
be less if the printing contract was
awarded to some one other than Penny;
or if the rental was to be increased if
the city printing amounted to a certain
sum; so if Penry ST. was to be EN-
ployed only in the event Of Penry jr, be-
ing awarded the contract for city print
ing; cor in the event only that such
printing amounted to certain sum; or
if his salary was to be augmented or de-
creased according to the amount of bust
ness done by Penny jr; in any of these
conditions or in any one of many other
conditions that might be suggested there
| WOulQ Dc ali llltSISol vi tlG Jdlt vi
Penry sr that would be visible, demon
strable and capable of precise proof,
but such proof is entirely lacking in
this case, and in the absence of any
such proof it would appear that there is
no showing in the case that William
Penry sr. was directly or indirectly in
terested in the contract with the city, or
would profit to the value of a cent
whether il was awarded or refused.
Furthermore in the absence of any de-