People v. Orange County Farmers & Merchants Ass'n

This proceeding was instituted by the attorney-general of the state of California upon the relation of Chas. S. Knowlton, a resident and taxpayer of the county of Orange, for the purpose of having it adjudged that the defendant is unlawfully usurping, holding, and exercising the right to construct, maintain, and operate a telephone system in the said county of Orange and to use and occupy the public streets of said county for such purposes; and to have said defendant excluded from using the said public streets for such purposes and from using or enjoying a certain franchise attempted to be granted to said defendant by the board of supervisors of said county giving to it the right and privilege so to do.

The facts of the case are undisputed. The defendant is a nonprofit co-operative association organized under the provisions of title XX, part IY, division I, of the Civil Code of the state of California. The purposes for which said association was formed, as stated in its articles of association, are to establish a farmers’, fruit-growers’, merchants’, and business men’s improvement, information, and publicity bureau and system for the benefit and mutual improvement of the members…