Payne

In an action "brought to restrain them as trustees of the “Ward Drainage District” from bringing suits to collect from plaintiffs certain alleged illegal assess mente, the judgment was in favor of defendants from which the appeal has been taken. It is not disputed that said district was regularly established in accordance with and by virtue of the provisions of an act of the legislature to promote drainage, approved March 18, 1885 (Stats. 1885, p. 204). as amended in 1891 (Stats. 1891, p. 262), and also in 1909 (Stats 1909, p. 25), whereby a legislative scheme was provided for the drainage of other than swamp and overflowed lands. For a discussion of various legal phases of this legislation and a comparison of it with the Reclamation Act of 1868, we may refer to the opinion of the supreme court in the case of Laguna Drainage District v. Charles Martin Co., 144 Cal. 209 , [ 77 Pac. 933 ], and wherein its validity is upheld but therein no consideration was devoted to the main question involved herein, which is, Was evidence admissible to prove “that the assessment of the commissioners was disproportionate to the expense of the works and the benefits to be derived…