Hatfield

The prayer of the plaintiff’s complaint in this action is that the franchises and waterworks of the defendant, Contra Costa Water Company, now claimed to be owned by its codefendant, Peoples Water Company, be declared forfeited to the city of Oakland. The appeal is from a judgment entered upon an order sustaining a demurrer to the plaintiff’s third amended complaint without leave to amend. The action is prosecuted by the plaintiff in his capacity as a private citizen; and the .gist of his complaint is that he, as a water rate payer in the city of Oakland, was overcharged the sum of $3.67% by the defendant, Contra Costa Water Company, during a specified six months preceding the commencement of the action.

The plaintiff’s right as a water rate payer to institute and maintain the action is rested solely upon the provisions of section 7 of the act of March 7, 1881, which read as follows :

It is the contention of the defendants that the act last referred to is unconstitutional in so far as it purports to confer upon a water rate payer the power to compel a forfeiture of the franchises and works of a water company because of an alleged overcharge. We are of the opinion that the…