[1] Drainage Districts—General Assessment Levied by Sacramento and San Joaquin District—Validity.—In this proceeding contesting the validity of a general assessment levied by the Sacramento and San Joaquin Drainage District created by the legislature in 1913 (Stats. 1913, p. 252), the assessment is held valid, as being authorized by the statute, without first having segregated the general scheme of improvement into separate projects.

[2] Waters and Water Bights—Flood Waters—'Common Law.— At common law flood waters were deemed a natural enemy of all, and each man had a right to protect his property as best he might against such waters, and damage to his neighbor by reason of the diversion of flood water was damnum absque injuria.

[3] Drainage Districts — Assessment by Sacramento and San Joaquin District—Inclusion of Reclaimed Land—Assessment in Accordance With Benefits—Danger from Floods.—The general assessment levied by the Sacramento and San Joaquin Drainage District to cover the outlay necessary in the preparation of the plans for the segregation of the general scheme of improvement into separate projects is not subject to attack by a land owner whose lands were included within the district on the ground that the assessment was not made in accordance with benefits because his lands had already been reclaimed, where all of the lands within the district, both reclaimed and unreclaimed, were subject to danger from floods.

[4] Id.—Greater Area of Reclaimed Land in Sacramento Valley— Evidence—Judicial Notice.—It is common knowledge, of which the courts will take judicial notice, that there are more reclamation projects and a greater area of reclaimed land requiring supervision and adjustment in the Sacramento Valley than in the San Joaquin Valley, and it was proper for the relamation board of the drainage district to consider such matter in determining the amount of the assessment of each region.

[5] Id.—Assessment Regardless of Value of Lands—Validity.— In view of the fact that the general assessment levied by the Sacramento and San Joaquin Drainage District was for the general benefit of the whole area, the general scheme involving not only the reclamation of lands but protection from floods as well, the assessment is not subject to attack on the ground that all lands, both improved and unimproved, were assessed at the same rate.

16] Id.—Fixing Boundaries of Assessment District—Act of Legislature—General Bule.—The general rule is that where the legislature has itself fixed the boundaries of a district t'o be assessed for the benefits of an improvement, the legislative determination is conclusive upon the courts, and precludes inquiry into the question as to whether or not the property within the district has been benefited.

[7] Id.—Benefit to Beclaimed Lands—Determination of Legislature Conclusive.—In view of the nature and character of the work contemplated by the legislature, of which the courts will take judicial notice, it cannot be said that there is anything so palpably arbitrary or grossly unequal in the inclusion of lands within the Sacramento and San Joaquin Drainage District which had already been reclaimed as would justify the interference of a court on the ground that a constitutional right of the property owner had been violated on the theory that his property would not be benefited by the improvement.

[8] Id.—Evidence—Lack of Benefits.—In a proceeding instituted by a land owner whose lands had already been reclaimed and which were included in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Drainage District to contest the validity of a general assessment, evidence offered for the purpose of proving that plaintiff's lands in certain counties would not be benefited by the project was properly excluded, since the "inclusion of the -lands by the legislature was conclusive on the subject.

[9] Id.—Lack of Mining Debris in San Joaquin Biver.—In such a proceeding, proof that there had not been and that there was no prospect of there being any mining debris in the San Joaquin Biver to be taken care of by the reclamation board was not sufficient to show that the lands of the plaintiff would not be benefited by the project, in view of the fact, of which the court will take judicial notice, that the debris from the mining regions in the tributaries of the Sacramento Biver, if carried in its waters, tends constantly to raise the level of the bottom of that river and decrease its capacity for carrying water, and as a consequence to increase the height of the flood level in the Sacramento and correspondingly elevate the flood level in the lower part of the San Joaquin Biver.

[10] Id.—Lands Above Highest Flood Levels—Exclusion from Assessment—Power of Legislature.—A land owner whose reclaimed lands were included in the district cannot claim that it is inconsistent to hold that it is conclusively presumed that all the lands within the exterior boundaries of the whole district are benefited, and to sustain the assessment which excluded three hundred thousand acres above the level of the highest floods, since the legislature included such lands to give the reclamation board power to protect such lands in ease of unprecedented floods.

[11] Id.—Omission of Nonbenefited Lands — Validity of Assessment.—There is nothing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Drainage District Act which requires t'he reclamation board to extend a general assessment over the entire district, and where the assessment is of no benefit to excluded lands, it cannot be attacked for their omission.

[12] ,Id.—Title of Amendatory Act of 1913—Reclamation of Land in San Joaquin Valley—Subject Included.—The title of the act of 1913 amending the act of 1911 is sufficiently broad to include the subject of reclamation of land in the San Joaquin Valley, although not mentioned in the title of the original act, in view of the fact that the title to the amendatory act mentioned the San Joaquin River.

[13] .Statutory Construction — Subject Dealt With — Title of Amendinq Act—When Sufficient.—If the title of an amending act itself expresses the subject dealt with, it is sufficient independently of the original title.