Bagley

This appeal is from a judgment entered for defendants upon stipulated facts in a quo warranto proceeding prosecuted by the attorney-general against them to determine their right to exercise the official powers and functions of the city council of the city of Stockton, of which they claimed and were adjudged by the trial court to be the duly constituted members.

The city of Stockton was, prior to the adoption of the constitution of 1879., duly incorporated under a special *345 charter, and continued to exist as such thereunder until the seventeenth day of December, 1884. On the latter date, it became organized as a municipal corporation of the fourth class, pursuant to the provision of an act approved March 13,1883, and entitled: “An act to provide for the organization, incorporation, and government of municipal corporations.” (Stats. 1883, p. 93.)

The city, under that act, maintained its corporate organization until the second day of March, 1889, when its present charter, framed by its freeholders and adopted by its electors, in accordance with and pursuant to the amendment to section 8 of article 11 of the constitution of this state, was approved by the legislature (Stats.…