Opinion ID: 471860
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Judicial Capacity

Text: 32 JWW complains that the PUC acts in both a legislative capacity (rate setting) and a judicial capacity (just compensation). This dual capacity has been expressly upheld by the California Supreme Court. In Marin Municipal Water District, 173 P. at 472, the court acknowledged that fixing the amount payable as just compensation is a judicial question and that due process would be lacking if the state took property without a judicial determination of just compensation. Nevertheless, the court concluded that in a prior decision, Marin Water and Power Co. v. Railroad Commission, 171 Cal. 706, 154 P. 864 (1916), it was settled that the Commission's authority to fix just compensation for utility property taken by eminent domains was derived from Art. 12, Sec. 5 of the California Constitution as a judicial power. Marin Municipal Water District, 173 P. at 472. Thus, the Commission is empowered by the state constitution to act in both capacities.