Santa Cruz Railroad v. Board of Supervisors

By an act of the legislature of the state, passed April 4, 1870, the people of any county of the state "who proposed to aid in the construction of a railroad in their county were authorized to vote upon the proposed aid, at an election to be held on a day and at the places in the county to be named in a notice of election for that purpose. The statute required that there should be stated in the notice the amount of bonds proposed to be issued, and a definite description of the route upon which the railroad was to be constructed; and that the notice itself should be published once a week for at least thirty days before the election. If the election resulted in favor of granting the proposed aid, the board of supervisors of the county were then authorized to enter into a contract with parties for the construction of a railroad upon the proposed route, and to issue bonds pursuant to the contract, bearing interest at seven per cent per annum, payable within twenty years from the date of their issuance, *100 and to provide by taxation for the payment of the interest and principal of said bonds as they became due.

By virtue of this authority, the board of supervisors of Santa Cruz…