MacMullan

In this proceeding the petitioner sought by mandamus to compel the respondent, in his official capacity as treasurer of the county of Alameda, to pay to the petitioner upon assigned claims several amounts of money totaling the sum of $42.09, which it was alleged had been by petitioner’s assignors paid to the then assessor of Alameda county as taxes on unsecured personal property for the fiscal year 1902-3. The petition alleges that the several sums sued for and paid as taxes for that year were collected by the assessor in accordance with the provisions of chapter 8 of the Political Code, upon the basis of the rate of taxation fixed for the preceding year, and that in each instance the several sums so paid were in excess of the amounts which subsequently actually became due for such taxes, based upon the rate of taxation which was finally fixed by the proper authorities for that year. The petition further alleges that the several sums sued for were by the assessor paid into the county treasury of Alameda county, where they now remain in charge of, and in the possession of, the respondent as treasurer of said county.

The petition for a writ of mandate was not filed in the superior…