Hyatt

An application has been made to this Court for a writ of mandamus to issue to the Assessor of the City of Stockton.

There is no cause pending in this Court on appeal, in which it is necessary or proper to issue the writ prayed for to that officer. The application is, therefore, in the nature of an original one to this Court; and for that reason it is insisted, on behalf of the respondent, that this Court has no power under the Constitution of this State to grant it. Consequently, it devolves upon this Court to determine that question. This we will proceed to do, before considering any other question involved in the case.

This Court derives its jurisdiction from § 4 of art. 6 of the Constitution. The jurisdiction which the Constitution confers upon the Court it is bound to exercise ; and it is equally bound not to exercise any other. It is no less the plain and solemn duty of the Court to act in the one case, than it is to refrain from acting in the other. Neither usurpation nor dereliction in respect of jurisdiction can be safely tolerated in courts of justice. Both should be avoided in all cases.

The section of the Constitution to which we have referred prescribes first the…

In this ease I respectfully dissent from the opinion of the other Judges of this Court as to the power vested in this tribunal by the Constitution of 1879, in relation to the writ of mandamus. The question to be considered may be stated as follows: Has this Court original jurisdiction in causes commenced in it by a writ of mandamus ? This must be determined by the Constitution adopted in 1879.

The jurisdiction of this Court is given and defined in article six of the Constitution. Section four of that article is in these words:

It is obvious from the most careless perusal of this section, that it was intended by it to confer appellate jurisdiction upon the Supreme Court. The words “ original jurisdiction ” nowhere appear in it. And if original jurisdiction is at all given it as to the writ referred to, it must be by implication from the words quoted above, which are used in conferring jurisdiction on this tribunal.

The appellate jurisdiction given is broad and ample, much more so than was conferred by the two previous Constitutions of this State. This will be obvious from an inspection of the clauses by which such jurisdiction was and is conferred. Following the clause…