Wheeler

This is an original application for a writ of mandate to compel the respondents, as mayor and city clerk, respectively, of the city of Stockton, a municipal corporation, to make and execute a contract awarded to the petitioner by the governing board of said city for the performance of the plumbing, heating, and ventilating work in and upon a public building of said city, known as and intended for a memorial civic auditorium.

The petition contains a detailed statement of the facts of the transaction and thus shows that all the legal requisites of the awarding of such a contract were observed. It is alleged that the respondent mayor has refused and still refuses to sign the written contract signed and submitted to him by the petitioner, and that, as a consequence, the city clerk has not attested the execution of the same by the said mayor. The respondents have demurred to the petition on the general ground and thus admit the truth of all the essential facts stated in the petition for the writ herein asked for.

The facts of the transaction may thus be stated: Sealed bids for the work referred to having been previously advertised for by the city council, the petitioner on the ninth…