Livermore

At the last session of the legislature a proposition for an amendment to section 1 of article XX of the constitution was adopted by the vote of two-thirds of the members of each house, in the following terms:

The present action was brought by the respondent as a taxpayer and citizen of the state, to restrain the defendant, as secretary of state, from certifying the said amendment to the clerks of the respective counties of the state, and from doing any other act with intent to have the said amendment submitted to the electors of the state, and from incurring any expenses in connection with said amendment, or with any attempt to secure a vote thereon by the people, upon the grounds, as contended by him, that by reason of the failure to comply with certain constitutional requirements, the amendment was never legally adopted, and, also, that, by the terms of the proposition itself, it is inefficient as an amendment to the constitution, and would be inoperative if approved by the people; and that, as a taxpayer and citizen, he is entitled to this relief against the improper expenditure of public moneys. Judgment was rendered by the court below in favor of the plaintiff, and the…

At the argument it was contended by respondent that the judgment should be affirmed, because the proposed amendment was never finally disposed of by the assembly, the whole matter having been laid on the table; that it was not passed in the senate by a two-thirds vote of all the members thereof, the record showing that Senator Hart’s vote ought to have been recorded in the negative; that the house did not act upon the measure that was passed by the senate; that the proposed amendment is on its face void, because in contravention of public morals, being an offer on the part of the state to abandon its property at Sacramento, and change its seat of government to San Jose, for a'bribe or consideration of one million of dollars and ten acres of land; and that in any event it is void for uncertainty, there being nothing to show who is to pay the money or donate the land, or how long the people will have to wait for a tender of the property—how many propositions may be made and rejected before it can be known where the seat of government is to be permanently located—and that no one can know where the seat of government would be in the event of a failure of the governor, attorney…