English

Montague & Co. petitioned the superior court for a writ of mandate to compel the city treasurer of the city of Vallejo to pay a certain warrant drawn for the sum of ninety dollars and eighty-five cents by the trustees of said city. A demurrer was sustained to the petition, and the soundness of that ruling of the trial court is the matter presented here for consideration.

The material facts disclosed by the petition may be thus summarized: In January, 1895, the aforesaid city, by its trustees, resolved to purchase and did purchase from Montague & Co. one hundred feet of waterpipe for the sum of ninety dollars and eighty-five cents, and the warrant of said city for that amount was issued in pursuance of such purchase, and is the warrant here under consideration. At the time this pipe was so purchased it was laid underground in one of the streets of said city, and formed a part of the system of waterworks then owned and used by said city. The history of this particular piece of pipe is a material element entering into a consideration of the question at issue, and that history is as follows:. The city of Vallejo, by a vote of its electors, decided to create a permanent improvement in…