Action against Reclamation District—Authority of Law.—An action does not lie against a reclamation district unless expressly authorized by law, whether it be regarded as a quasi-public corporation or a public agency of the state.

Id.—Construction of Statute—Reorganization of Districts—Applicability of Political Code.—Section 3478 of the Political Code, allowing reclamation districts formed under laws in force prior to May 27, 1868, to be reorganized thereunder, did not apply to corporations organized under the act of 1868.

Id.—Subsequent Act Limited by Express Terms and Exceptions.— The act of March 10, 1885, providing that all corporations organized prior to January 1, 1873, “which are now, and have been ever since their creation, prosecuting the objects for which they were created,” are to be subject to the provisions of the Political Code, with certain excepted provisos, applies only to reclamation districts shown to be within its express terms, and not excepted out of them, and the amendment of 1899 to section 3453 of the Political Code cannot have the effect to sustain an action against excepted districts.

Id.—Pleading—Insufficiency of Complaint against District—Applicability of Statute not Shown.—A complaint against a reclamation district filed subsequent to the act of March 10, 1885, which does not aver that “the reclamation district was at the time of the passage of that act, and ever since has been, prosecuting the objects for which it was created,” does not state a cause of action or show a right to sue the reclamation district.

Id.—Pleading of Exceptions.—The right to maintain an action against a reclamation district is an exception to the general rule, and the rule of pleading applies that a party who brings himself within an exception to a general rule must state facts which take his case out of the general rule and within the exception, and when matter is placed by way of exception in a general clause of the statute allowing such action, the pleading founded upon it must bring the ease within the qualification and exclude it from the exception.

Id.—Construction of Proviso—Prior Indebtedness.—-Where a proviso in the statute of March 10, 1885, states that nothing therein contained “shall affect the indebtedness of the districts theretofore incurred,” the effect of such proviso is the same as if the law had declared that reclamation districts, with respect to indebtedness then existing, should remain subject to the act of 1868, and the limitation upon the operation of the code upon such districts by the proviso must be held to apply to future amendments of the code, as well as to its provisions in force when the act of 1885 was passed; and no action can be maintained against a reclamation district upon warrants drawn prior to its passage.

Id.—Prospective Construction op Statute.—As a general rule, statutes are to be construed as prospective, and not retroactive, in their operation, if there is nothing in their terms to indicate a different construction; and a statute general in its terms will not be construed to apply to past transactions as to which it would be futile or practically ineffectual, unless its language necessarily requires such a construction.

Id.—Amendment op Political Code not Retroactive upon Claims Barred by Statute.—The amendment of 1899 to section 3453 of the Political Code is not retroactive in its operation, and does not authorize a suit against a reclamation district upon claims theretofore barred by the statute of limitations.

Id.—Remedy against Reclamation District—Property not Subject to Execution—Mandamus—Bar op Statute.-—If an action were brought against a reclamation district and judgment obtained thereon, it could not be enforced by execution. The only remedy in any case is by mandamus, and that remedy became complete and perfect upon refusal of the treasurer to pay warrants allowed for want of funds, to compel the levying of an assessment to pay the warrants, and where that remedy was barred by statute, prior to the amendment of 1899, that amendment did not revive the remedy as to such warrants, or allow suit to be brought thereupon.