Spring Valley Water Works v. City & County of San Francisco

This action is brought to set aside and declare void an ordinance of the board of supervisors of the city and county of San Francisco, fixing water rates to be charged for water to be furnished to said city and its inhabitants for the year commencing July 1, 1889.

The complaint, after alleging the plaintiff’s corporate existence, and its object and purpose, viz., to furnish water to said city and county, and other preliminary and technical matters, avers that it has for the purpose mentioned “constructed aqueducts, and pumping and other works, and laid many miles of water-pipe for distributing water to its consumers; and that its aforesaid lands, water rights, works, buildings, and improvements necessary to enable it to fulfill the said purposes of its incorporation are of very great value, to wit, of a value exceeding twenty-five million dollars”; that it has projected and has now in course of construction large additions to its works, necessary to meet the demands of said city and its inhabitants, and in order to meet the wants of said city and its inhabitants,, and “ to. meet the ex *297 penses and pay the cost of the said additions to its works and improvements, it will be…

I dissent. I am of the

opinion that the superior court had jurisdiction of this case. It has jurisdiction of all cases in equity. (Const., art. 6, sec. 5.) I have no doubt it has jurisdiction of the case attempted to be made by the complaint herein as presented in that pleading. It is a case brought for preventive relief. Its general purport is to prevent th e property of the plaintiff from being taken by the action of the board of supervisors of the city and county of San Francisco, claimed to be unauthorized by law, without due process of law and without compensation. All other relief sought is incidental to that just mentioned. Surely there can be no doubt at this day that such a case is within the equity jurisdiction of the superior courts of the state. The questions here to be considered relate to the exercise of jurisdiction, and the limits the law prescribes to the exercise of that jurisdiction. If the court has not exceeded such limits, its judgment must stand. The only real questions presented in this case relate to error in the employment of its jurisdiction. The judgment is correct, unless there can be found error in the record.

The question of the sufficiency of the…