People v. Selma Irrigation District

The defendant, the Selma Irrigation District, is a corporation organized under an act of the legislature of this state entitled “An act to provide for the organization and government of irrigation districts, and to provide for the acquisition of water and other property,” etc., approved March 7, 1887 (Stats. 1887, p. 29), and this action is brought by the people of the state to obtain a judgment dissolving said corporation and excluding it from all corporate rights and franchises. The complaint alleges that since the organization of the Selma Irrigation District as a corporation, three elections have been held in the district in accordance with the provisions of the law under which it was created, for the purpose of determining whether bonds should be issued to construct necessary irrigation canals, at each of which elections a majority of the votes cast was against the issuance of bonds. It is further alleged that said corporation did not commence the transaction of its business or the construction of its works within one year from the date of its incorporation and never has done so; but, on the contrary,- has wilfully failed and omitted to use the rights, privileges, powers, and…