Rapken

This action was commenced by the plaintiff as a corporation against the defendant to recover the sum of six hundred dollars for the alleged breach of a contract in writing for the supplying by plaintiff to the defendant of certain labor and materials to be used in the construction of a building, which, it is alleged, were furnished but for which the defendant refused to pay.

The plaintiff averred its corporate existence in the usual form. The defendant denied this allegation and alleged “that the plaintiff is not now, or was at the time of the filing of the complaint, a corporation organized or existing under or by virtue of the laws of the state of California or of any state, and-that prior to the commencement of this action the said plaintiff, after due and regular proceedings for that purpose had forfeited its charter as a corporation and as such ceased to exist, and ever since said time has ceased to be a corporation.”

Upon the trial of the case, and after the plaintiff had proffered some of its proofs as to its cause of action, the defendant offered in evidence the certificate of the Secretary of State for the avowed purpose of showing that the plaintiff had forfeited its…