TITLE 135.

INYO COUNTY.

A reference to special acts relating to county is contained in Deering's Annotated Code, p. 599.

TITLE 136.

IRRIGATION DISTRICTS.

[The Irrigation Act of 1897 can be found p. 462. As the irrigation districts now in were formed under the prior acts and as the questions involved in relation to them depend on the construction of these prior acts it is d ed best to set them forth in full.]

An Act to amend "An Act amendatory of supplemental to an act entitled 'An Act to vide for the organization and governmen irrigation districts, and to provide for the quisition of water and other property, and the distribution of water thereby for irr tion purposes,' approved March 7, 1887, I viding for the exclusion of certain lands w in any such district."

[Approved Feb. 16, 1889; Stats. 1889, p. 21.1 Boundaries of irrigation districts, how changed Section 1. The boundaries of any irrigation d trict now or hereafter organized under the pro sions of an act entitled "An act to provide for organization and government of irrigation tricts, and to provide for the acquistion of wat and other property, and for the distribution water thereby for irrigation purposes," approve March seventh, one thousand eight hundred an eighty-seven, may be changed, and tracts of lan which were included within the boundaries such district at or after its organization under provisions of said act may be excluded therefrom in the manner herein prescribed; but neither suc change of the boundaries of the district nor suc

exclusion of lands from the district shall impair or affect its organization, or its right in or to property, or any of its rights or privileges of whatever kind or nature; nor shall it affect, impair, or discharge any contract, obligation, lien, or charge for or upon which said district was and may become liable or chargeable, had such change of its boundaries not been made or had not such land been excluded from the district. [Amendment approved March 25, 1893; Stats. 1893, 516.]

Petition to exclude from district.

Section 2. The owner or owners in fee of one or more tracts of land which constitute a portion of an irrigation district may jointly or severally file with the board of directors of the district a petition, praying that such tract or tracts, and any other tracts contiguous thereto, may be excluded and taken from said district. The petition shall state the grounds and reasons upon which it is claimed that such lands should be excluded, and shall describe the boundaries thereof, and also the lands of such petitioner or petitioners which are included within such boundaries; but the description of such lands need not be more particular or certain than is required when the lands are entered in the assessment-book by the county assessor. Such petition must be acknowledged in the same manner and form as is required in the case of a conveyance of land, and the acknowledgment shall have the same force and effect as evidence as the acknowledgment of such a conveyance. [Amendment approved March 25, 1893, Stats. 1893, 516.]

Publication of notice.

Section 3. The secretary of the board of directors shall cause a notice of the filing of such petition to be published for at least two weeks in some newspaper published in the county where the office of the board of directors is situated, and if any portion of such territory to be excluded lie within another county or counties, then said notice shall be so published in a newspaper published within each of said counties; or if no newspaper be published therein, then by posting such notice for the same time in at least three public places in said district. and in case of the posting of said notices one of

said notices must be so posted on the lands pr posed to be excluded. The notice shall state the filing of such petition, the names of the petitioners, a description of the lands mentioned in said pet tion, and the prayer of said petition; and it shall notify all persons interested in, or who may be affected by such change of the boundaries of the district, to appear at the office of said board t a time named in said notice, and show cause, in writing, if any they have, why the change of the boundaries of said district, as proposed in said petition, should not be made. The time to be specified in the notice at which they shall be re quired to show cause shall be the regular meeting of the board next after the expiration of the time for the publication of the notice. [Amendment apa proved March 25, 1893; Stats. 1893, 516.]

Hearing of petition.

Section 4. The board of directors, at the time and place mentioned in the notice, or at the time or times to which the hearing of said petition may be adjourned, shall proceed to hear the petition and all evidence or proofs that may or shall be in troduced by or on behalf of the petitioner or peti tioners, and all objections to such petition that may or shall be presented in writing by any per son showing cause as aforesaid, and all evidence and proofs that may be introduced in support of such objections. Such evidence shall be taken down in shorthand, and a record made thereof and filed with the board. The failure of any person interested in said district, other than the holders of bonds thereof outstanding at the time of the filing of said petition with said board, to show cause, in writing, why the tract or tracts of land mentioned in said petition should not be excluded from said district, shall be deemed and taken as an assent by him to the exclusion of such tract or tracts of land, or any part thereof, from said dis trict; and the filing of such petition with said board, as aforesaid, shall be deemed and taken as an assent to each and all of such petitioners to the exclusion from such district of the lands mestioned in the petition, or any part thereof. The expenses of giving said notice and of the afore said proceeding shall be paid by the person or per sons filing such petition. [Amendments approved March 25, 1893; Stats. 1893, 516.]

Action of board of directors on petition.

Section 5. If, upon the hearing of any such petition, no evidence or proofs in support thereof be introduced, or if the evidence fail to sustain said petition, or if the board deem it not for the best interests of the district that the lands, or some portion thereof, mentioned in the petition should be excluded from the district, the board shall order that said petition be denied as to such lands; but if the said board deem it for the best interests of the district that the lands mentioned in the petition, or some portion thereof, be excluded from the district, and if no person interested in the district show cause, in writing, why the said lands, or some portion thereof, should not be excluded from the district, or if, having shown cause, withdraws the same, or upon the hearing fails to establish such objections as he may have made, then it shall be the duty of the board to, and it shall forthwith make, an order that the lands mentioned and described in the petition, or some defined portion thereof, be excluded from said district; provided, that it shall be the duty of said board to so order, upon petition therefor as aforesaid, that all lands so petitioned to be excluded from said district shall be excluded therefrom which cannot be irrigated from, or which are not susceptible to, or would not, by reason of being permanently devoted to uses other than agricultural, horticultural, viticultural, or grazing, be directly benefited by the actual irrigation of the same from a common source, or by the same system of works with the other lands of said district, or from the source selected, chosen, or provided, or the system adopted for the irrigation of the lands of said district, or which are already irrigated or entitled to be irrigated from another source or by another system of irrigation works; but no lands included within the limits of any city or town, or which shall have been subdivided into town lots or blocks, shall be excluded under the provisions of this act, and no lands irrigated or entitled to be irrigated from another source or by another system of irrigation works, shall be excluded under the provisions of this act, from any district organized before the passage of this act. [Amendment approved March 25, 1893; Stats. 1893, 516.]

Outstanding bonds.

Section 6. If there be outstanding bonds of the district at the time of the filing of said petition the holders of such outstanding bonds may give their assent, in writing, to the effect that they sev erally consent that the lands mentioned in the petition, or such portion thereof as may be ex cluded from said district by order of said board or the decree of the superior court as hereinafter provided, may be excluded from the district, and if said lands, or any portion thereof, be thereafter excluded from the district, the lands so excluded shall be released from the lien of such outstanding bonds. The assent must be acknowledged by the several holders of such bonds in the same manner and form as is required in case of a conveyance of land, and the acknowledgment shall have the same force and effect as evidence as the acknow! edgment of such conveyance. The assem shall be filed with the board, and must be recorded in the minutes of the board and said minutes, or a copy thereof, certified by the secretary of said board, shall be admissible in evidence, with the same effect as the said as sent, and such certified copy thereof may be re corded in the office of the county recorder of the county wherein said lands are situated. [Amend ment approved March 25, 1893; Stat. 1893, 516.] Sections 7 and 8 repealed, amendment approve March 25, 1893, Stats 1893, p. 516.

Orders to be filed in the recorder's office.

Section 9. In the event the said board of direct ors shall exclude any lands from said district upo petition therefor, or in the event any lands be ex cluded from the said district by a decree of court as hereinafter provided for, upon receipt of a cer tified copy of a decree so made, it shall be th duty of the board of directors to make an entr in the minutes of the board, describing the boun daries of the district, should the exclusion of salt lands from said district change the boundaries o said district, and for that purpose the board may cause a survey to be made of such portions of th district as the board may deem necessary; and i certified copy of the entry in the minutes of the board excluding any land, whether after or with out said decree of exclusion, certified by the pres