centage, and mileage, and require the same to be paid into the treasury for the use and benefit of the state.

Stats. 1870, 423.

3868. Settlement of auditors with controller.

SEC. 3868. The auditor of each county, between the first and tenth day of each month in which the treasurer of his county is required to settle with the controller, must make, in duplicate, and verify by his affidavit, a report to the controller of state, in such form as the controller may desire, showing specifically the amount due the state from each particular source of reveune at the close of business on the last day of the preceding month. [Amendment, approved March 28, 1878; Amendments 1877-8, 66; took effect immediately.]

3869. Auditor to transmit report to controller by mail.

SEC. 3869. The auditor must at once transmit by mail or express to the controller one copy of the report, and must deliver the other copy to the treasurer of his county.

3870. Failure of auditor to make report-Penalty.

SEC. 3870. Every auditor who fails to make and transmit the report required by this chapter, or any report or statement required by this title, forfeits all compensation which would be otherwise due him from the state; and the controller is required to withhold such compensation.

3871. Controller to deduct fees and mileage, etc., on settlement.

SEC. 3871. In the settlement the controller must deduct the commissions and mileage allowed to the county treasurer for his services, the state's portion of the repayments made under section thirty-eight hundred and twentyfour, and any other amount due the county or the officers thereof.

Stats. 1870, 423.

3872. Manner of making payments into state treasury.

SEO. 3872. The manner of making payments into the state treasury is prescribed by sections four hundred and thirty-three, four hundred and thirty-four, four hundred and fifty-two, and four hundred and fifty-three of this code.

3873. Controller's statement to contain what.

SEC. 3873. The controller must, after the treasurer has made settlement and payment, enter upon each copy of the auditor's report a statement showing: 1. The amount of money by the county treasurer paid into the state treasury;

2. The amount deducted for commissions and other allowances; —And must then return one copy of the report to the county treasurer. Stats. 1870, 423.

3874. County treasurer to file controller's statement with auditor.

SEC. 3874. The county treasurer must file with the auditor of his county the copy returned to him by the controller.

3875. Auditor to make certain entries.

SEO. 3875. The auditor must then make the proper entries in his account

with the treasurer.

Stats. 1870, 423.

3876. Rate of mileage allowed treasurer.

SEC. 3876. The controller must, in the settlement, allow the treasurer for inileage at the rate of forty cents per mile from the county seat to the capital, such mileage not to exceed at any settlement one hundred dollars.

3877. Controller may examine books of any revenue officer.

SEC. 3877. The controller may examine the books of any officer charged with the collection and receipt of state taxes.

3878. When revenue officer guilty of defrauding, district attorney to prosecute.

SEC. 3878. If he believes any officer has been guilty of defrauding the state of revenue, or has neglected or refused to perform any duty relating to the revenue, he must direct the district attorney or other counsel to prosecute the delinquent.

3879. Controller may designate county in which action to be tried.

SEC. 3879. When any law in relation to the revenue of the state has been so far violated as to require the prosecution of the offender for a criminal offense, or proceedings against him by civil action, the controller may designate the county in which the prosecution or proceeding may be had.

3880. Other counsel may be employed.

SEC. 3880. The controller or attorney-general may employ other counsel than the district attorney, and the expenses must be audited by the board of examiners and be paid out of the state treasury.

CHAPTER XI.

MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS.

3881. Omissions, errors, and defects in form of assessment-book, how corrected. SEO. 3881. Omissions, errors, or defects in form in any original or duplicate assessment-book, when it can be ascertained therefrom what was intended, may, with the written consent of the district attorney, be supplied or corrected by the assessor at any time prior to the sale for delinquent taxes and after the original assessment was made. In the city and county of San Francisco, the written consent of the city and county attorney shall have the same force and effect as the written consent of the district attorney. [Amendment, approved April 3, 1876; Amendments 1875-6, 58; took effect from passage.]

Assessment-book, generally: See sec. 3650, ante, and note.

Duplicate assessment-book: See sec. 3732. Prior to the above section, slight defects, such as the omission of the dollar-sign, could not be corrected by the auditor after the assessment roll had been delivered to him by the board of supervisors: People v. S. F. Savings Union, 31 Cal. 132. And a tax deed founded upon such assessment has been declared void: Hurlbutt v. Butenop, 27 Id. 50. The difficulty in this last case is said by the code commissioners "to be obviated by this and succeeding sections."

and assessing of taxes are legal notwithstanding intervening irregularities: People v. Seymour, 16 Cal. 332; People v. Holladay, 25 Id. 300; People v. S. F. Savings Union, 31 Id. 132; People v. Todd, 23 Id. 181; People v. McCreery, 34 İd. 432; People v. Goldtree, 44 Id. 323; San Francisco v. S. V. W. W., 54 Id. 571. But an assessment so defective as to be void cannot be cured by a legislative act retrospective in its operation; for example, the legislature cannot validate an assessment in which there was no valuation: People v. S. F. Savings Union, 31 Id. 132; People v. McCreery, 34 Id. 432; or where the officer or tribunal had no jurisdiction: People v. Goldtree, 44 Id. 323; or where there was no description of the real estate: People v. Holla day, 25 Id. 300.

Curative acts legalizing assessments.The legislature has power to pass curative acts by which the various acts and proceedings of the officers and boards charged with the levying 3882. Omissions, etc., in delinquent lists, how corrected.

SEC. 3882. When the omission, error, or defect has been carried into a delinquent list or any publication, the list or publication may be republished as amended, or notice of the correction may be given in a supplementary publication.

3883. Publication of corrected delinquent lists, etc.

SEC. 3883. The publication must be made in the same manner as the original publication, and for not less than one week.

3884. Initial letters, abbreviations, and figures.

SEC. 3884. In the assessment of land, advertisement, and sale thereof for taxes, initial letters, abbreviations, and figures may be used to designate the township, range, section, or parts of section.

3885. No assessment illegal on account of informality, etc.

SEC. 3885. No assessment or act relating to assessment or collection of taxes is illegal on account of informality, nor because the same was not completed within the time required by law.

3886. Fines, forfeitures, penalties, etc., paid into county treasury.

SEC. 3886. The fines, forfeitures, and penalties incurred by a violation of any of the provisions of this title must be paid into the treasury for the use of the county where the person against whom the recovery is had resides.

3887. Mortgages and pledges.

Section 3887, relating to mortgaged or pledged personal property, and providing that it should be deemed the property of the person

in possession, was repealed by act of March 22, 1880; Amendments ISSO, 17 (Ban. ed. 47); took effect immediately.

3888. Taxes payable only in gold or silver coin-Exception.

SEC. 3888. Taxes must be paid in legal coin of the United States. A tax levied for a special purpose may be paid in such funds as may be directed.

An Act in relation to the currency of the United States.

[Approved, March 12, 1880; 1880, 8 (Ban. ed. 28).]

Legal-tender notes to be received at par.

SECTION 1. All legal-tender notes heretofore issued, or which may hereafter be issued, by the government of the United States of America, as legal-tender notes, shall be received at par in payment for all taxes due or to become due to this state, or to any county or municipal corpora tion thereof, and such notes shall be a legal tender for all debts; dues, and demands between citizens of this state.

SEC. 2. All acts, and the provisions of any act or parts of acts, conflicting with this act are hereby repealed.

SEC. 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

Such notes had been held not receivable in payment of state or county taxes: Perry v. Wash

burn, 20 Cal. 318.

3889. Annual settlements of assessors, district attorneys, and treasurers with auditor. SEC. 3889. Every assessor, district attorney, and county treasurer must, annually, on the first Monday of January, make a settlement with the county auditor of all transactions connected with the revenue for the previous year. 3890. Officers to perform only duties pertaining to their own office.

SEC. 3890. The treasurer, tax collector, assessor, clerk of the board of supervisors, and each member of the board, must separately perform the duties required of him in his office, and must not, except in the cases provided by law, perform the duties required of any other officer under this title.

3891. When this title takes effect.

act

SEC. 3891. With relation to the acts passed at the present session of the legislature, the provisions of this title must, after this title takes effect, be construed as though this code had been passed and approved on the last day of the present session. But the provisions of this section do not apply to any expressly amendatory of either of the codes, or putting into effect any part of either; nor to an act approved March sixteenth, eighteen hundred and seventytwo, entitled an act to put into immediate effect certain parts of the Political and Penal codes; nor to an act approved March twenty-second, eighteen hunIdred and seventy-two, entitled an act to put into effect certain parts of the

codes and provide for their publication.

This section was amended so as to read as above, and sections 3893, 3894, 3895, and 3896 were added by an act passed April 1, 1872. The above section, being construed as if passed and approved on the last day of the session of

3892. Saving clause.

1871-2, repealed all acts concerning revenue passed at that session except acts amendatory of or carring into effect the codes: Mitchell v. Crosby, 46 Cal. 98.

SEC. 3892. All taxes assessed before this code takes effect must be collected under the laws in force at the time the assessment was made, and in the same manner as if this code had not been passed.

3893. Compensation of assessor and auditor for extra services.

SEC. 3893. The board of supervisors of each county must make to the assessor and auditor thereof a reasonable allowance, not to exceed eight cents per folio, for making the statements required by sections thirty-six hundred and fifty-five and thirty-seven hundred and twenty-eight, and for making the duplicate assessment-book mentioned in section thirty-seven hundred and thirty-two of the Political Code.

3894. Deputies for assessors.

SEC. 3894. The board of supervisors of each county in this state must allow the assessor thereof such a number of deputies, to be appointed by him in addition to the number now fixed, or where no deputies are now allowed, so many deputies as will, in the judgment of the board, enable the assessor to complete the assessment within the time prescribed by law. As to deputy assessors appointed in Siskiyou, Calaveras, Amador, or Alpine county under au

3895. Compensation of deputies.

thority of the above section, see act of March 16, 1874, given ante, sec. 3704.

SEO. 3895. The board must fix the compensation of the deputies so allowed; and such compensation must be paid out of the general fund in the county treasury. The compensation must not exceed five dollars per day for each deputy for the time actually engaged; nor must any allowance be made but for work done between the first Monday in March and the first Monday in July of

each year.

The above sections, 3894 and 3895, were act of March 28, 1876; 1875-6, 511; to-take-ef. made applicable to Humboldt county by special fect the first Monday in March, 1877.

3896. State board may dispense with duplicate book.

SEC. 3896. The state board of equalization may, by an order entered upon its minutes, and certified to the county auditor of any county in the state, dispense with the duplicate assessment-book in such county, in which event the original assessment-book shall perform all the offices of such duplicate, and shall have like force and effect.

Duplicate assessment-book: Sec. 3732, ante.

3897. Action to recover property bought by state.

SEC. 3897. Whenever the state shall become the purchaser of property sold for taxes, and shall receive a grant of the same, the state board of equalization may direct the district attorney of the county, or the attorney-general, to bring an action to recover possession of the same. In case of judgment for the recovery of the same, or of any part thereof, the board of equalization may order the property so recovered to be sold by the county treasurer, under such regulations and on such terms as they may prescribe, and a grant from the people of the state, executed by the county treasurer to the purchaser, reciting the to authorize such sale and conveyance, shall convey all the interest of the state in such property, and be prima facie evidence of such facts.

facts

necessary

no bid shall be received at such sale for less than twice the amount of all the taxes levied upon such property, and of all interest, cost, and expenses, up to the date of such sale. [New section, approved March 24, 1874; Amendments 1873-4, 153; took effect from passage.]

Purchase by state: See sec. 3773

3898. Proceeds of sale, where paid.

SEC. 3898. In case sales are made under the provisions of the next preceding section, the proceeds of such sale shall be paid into the county treasury. The treasurer shall retain and distribute to the respective funds the portion belonging to the county, and shall pay the balance to the state treasurer, who must place it in the general fund. The attorney and counsel fees, costs, and expenses of the litigation for the recovery of the property, and of sales by the same, when audited by the board of examiners, must be paid out of the general fund; provided that the allowance in any one case shall not exceed the amount of said balance in such case. [New section, approved March 24, 1874; Amendments 1873-4, 153; took effect from passage.]

3899. Collection of taxes by action, when.

SEC. 3899. The controller may, at any time after a delinquent list has been delivered to a collector, direct such collector not to proceed in the collection of any tax on said list amounting to three hundred dollars, further than to offer for sale but once any property upon which such tax is a lien. Upon such direction, the collector, after offering the property for sale once, and there being no purchaser in good faith, must make out and deliver to the controller a certified copy of the entries upon the delinquent list relative to such tax; and the tax collector, or the controller in case the tax collector refuses or neglects for fifteen days after being directed to bring suit for collection by the controller, may proceed, by civil action in the proper court, and in the name of the people of the state of California, to collect such tax and costs. [New section, approved March 24, 1874; Amendments 1873-4, 153; took effect from passage.]

Tax suits. The legislature has power to pass an act authorizing district attorneys to institute proceedings in the name of the people to recover delinquent taxes, and such act does not interfere with the constitutional duties of the tax collector: People v. C. P. R. R. Co., 43 Cal. 399; Oakland v. Whipple, 39 Id. 112; Fitch v. Elk Co., 8 Nev. 271; Texas Banking & Ins.

Leet, 23 Id. 161. The complaint should state the kinds of property levied upon and assessed: People v. Holladay, supra. It should state separately the assessed value of the realty, of the improvements thereon, and of the person alty: People v. Rains, 23 Id. 131; but see People v. Hastings, 26 Id. 668. And if it alleges that a portion of the real estate assessed Co. v. State, 42 Tex. 636. The superior courts to the defendant belonged to others, the comhave jurisdiction of actions for collection of plaint does not state a cause of action: People delinquent taxes when the tax amounts to more v. Hyde, 48 Id. 431. It is not necessary to than three hundred dollars, and also, regardless allege that the taxes were levied for a year of amount, when it is sought to enforce the lien ending at a certain time, it will be enough to of the tax: People v. Olvera, 43 Cal. 492. mention the year generally: People v. Todd, When once duly assessed, a tax is a charge 23 Id. 181. The complaint must show that the against the owner of the property personally: property assessed was in the county: People. Oakland v. Whipple, 39 Id. 112. The requi- Pearis, 37 Id. 259. But an allegation that sites of the pleadings, in a great measure, de- property was duly assessed by a certain as pend upon the provisions of the statute under which the action is brought. Under the act that the property was within his district: sessor dispenses with the necessity of averring of May 17, 1861, the complaint must aver fail- People v. Leet, 23 Id. 161. As to the verificaure to collect the tax by reason of inability to tion of the pleadings, see Rowley v. Howard, find, seize, or sell property belonging to the Id. 401. It must aver, also, that the property delinquent: People v. Pico, 20 Id. 595; People was assessed to some person or party whose Under this act an duty it was to pay the tax, or that the owners were unknown to the assessor and so assessed: People v. De Carrillo, 35 Id. 37.

v. Holladay, 25 Id. 300.

action could not be maintained for a tax on real estate unless the assessment has sufficiently described the land: People v. Pico, supra; but

Matters of defense need not be alleged by the the complaint need not follow the description plaintiff; as where the legislature remitted cerin the assessment: People v. Cone, 48 Cal. 427; tain taxes the complaint is not required to state that the taxes sued for have not been remitted.

a description by name will suffice: People v.