Second. in which such Courts are established: First. Petit Larceny; Second. First. Assault and Battery, not charged to have been committed upon a public officer in the discharge of his duties, or with intent to kill. Third. Breaches of the Peace, Riots, Affrays, committing a willful Third. injury to property, and all misdemeanors, punishable by fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, or imprisonment not exceeding six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment. CHAPTER CCXXXI. AN ACT Amendatory of and supplementary to an Act to regulate proceedings in Civil Cases in the Courts of Justice of this State, passed April 29, 1851. [Approved May 7, 1855.] The People of the State of California represented in Senate and SECTION 1. Section fourth of said entitled Act is hereby amend- Prosecutions. ed so as to read as follows: Every action shall be prosecuted in the name of the real party in interest, except as otherwise provided in this Act; but in suits brought by the assignee of an account, unliquidated demand, or thing in action not arising out of contract, assigned subsequently to the first day of July, 1854, the assignor shall not be a witness on behalf of the plaintiff. SEC. 2. Section twenty-two of said entitled Act is hereby SO Civil actions. amended as to read, Civil actions in the District Courts, Superior Court of the City of San Francisco, and the County Courts, shall be commenced by the filing of a complaint with the clerk of the court in which the action is brought, and the issuing of a summons thereon; provided, that after the filing of the complaint a defendant in Proviso. the action may appear, answer or demur, whether the summons has been issued or not, and such appearance, answer or demurrer shall be deemed a waiver of summons. Pleading. SEC. 3. Section thirty-eight of said entitled Act is so amended as to read, The only pleading on the part of the plaintiff shall be the complaint or demurrer to the defendant's answer, and the only pleading on the part of the defendant shall be the demurrer or the answer. The demurrer or answer of the defendant shall be filed with the clerk of the court, and a copy thereof served upon the plaintiff or his attorney; provided, the plaintiff or his attorney re- Proviso. side within the county where the action is pending. SEC. 4. Section three hundred and thirty-nine of said entitled Statement Act is so amended as to read as follows: If the party shall omit to omitted. make a statement within the time above limited, he shall be deemed Docket of New counties. Part of Act repealed. to have waived his right thereto: and when a statement is made and the parties shall omit, within the several times above limited, the one party to propose amendments, the other to notify an appearance before the Judge, they shall respectively be deemed, the former to have agreed to the statement as proposed, and the latter to have agreed to the amendments as proposed, and no settlement of the statement or certificate thereto by the Judge shall be required. SEC. 5. Section six hundred and eight of said entitled Act is so amended as to read as follows; Any Justice with whom the docket of his predecessor is deposited, may issue execution or other process upon a judgment there entered and unsatisfied, in the same manner and with the same effect as the Justice by whom the judgment was entered might have done. In case of the creation of a new county, or the change of the boundary between two counties, any Justice into whose hands the docket of a Justice formerly acting as such within the same territory may come, shall, for the purposes of this section, be considered the successor of said former Justice. SEC. 6. Sections two and five of an Act amendatory of and supplementary to the Act entitled "An Act to regulate proceedings in Civil Cases in the Courts of Justice of this State," passed May 15, 1854, are hereby repealed. JOINT AND CONCURRENT RESOLUTIONS. CHAPTER I. CONCURRENT RESOLUTION In relation to the Establishment of Light Houses at Resolved, the Assembly concurring, That our Senators be in- Light houses. structed, and our Representatives requested, to use their exertions to procure the passage of an Act of Congress, providing for the erection of Light Houses at Trinidad and Crescent City, in this State. Passed January 31, 1855. CHAPTER II. JOINT RESOLUTIONS In relation to the Board of Land Commissioners. Whereas, in pursuance of an Act of Congress, entitled "An Act to Land claims. ascertain and settle the Private Land Claims of California," approved March 3d, 1851, the citizens of this State were required to file in the office of the Board of Land Commissioners, organized under the said Act, all their grants and original muniments of title, by virtue of which they claim to be the owner or owners of lands in this State; and whereas, they have complied with said re- Documents. quisition, whereby the said Land Commissioners hold in custody all of said documents, and in consequence thereof, the citizens of the Records. Decisions. To return papers. State are deprived of the means of maintaining or defending their titles to real estate in the Courts of this State, by reason that all their original papers, grants and muniments of title, are out of their possession and beyond their control; and whereas, said documents are all recorded in the office of said Commissioners, in bound books, their furnishing the Government of the United States with official copies of the same; and whereas, the said Commissioners have exhausted their power in a large proportion of said claims, by the delivery of their final decision thereon, and by making out two complete transcripts of their decisions, and filing one in the proper United States District Court for California, and forwarding the other to the Attorney General of the United States, at Washington; and whereas, notwithstanding this, the Board of Land Commissioners cannot, for want of authority, deliver to their owners all or any of said original muniments of title: Therefore, be it Resolved, by the Senate and Assembly of the State of California, That our Senators and Representatives in Congress, be requested to urge the adoption of such measures, by legislation or otherwise, as will authorize and direct the said Board of Land Commissioners, that when they shall have exhausted their power in any case by the delivery of their final decision upon such claim, to return to the claimant, or to his duly authorized agent, free of cost, all original papers or muniments of title, filed by such claimant in support of his claim. Resolved, secondly, That the Governor be requested to forward a copy of this Preamble and these Resolutions, to each of our Senators and Representatives in Congress. Passed February 7, 1855. Breakwater at CHAPTER III. JOINT RESOLUTIONS Praying for the Construction of a Breakwater in the Resolved, by the Senate and Assembly, That our Senators be inCrescent City. structed, and our Representatives be requested, to use their exertions to procure an appropriation by Congress, of seventy-five thousand dollars, for the construction of a breakwater in the harbor at Crescent City, in this State. Resolved, That his Excellency the Governor, be requested to transmit a copy of the above Resolution to each of our Senators and Representatives in Congress. Passed February 8, 1855. CHAPTER IV. CONCURRENT RESOLUTIONS Relative to the Payment of Pensions in the State of Whereas, many persons, entitled to pensions from the United States, Pensions. reside in this State, and are subjected to the payment of a large part of their pensions as compensation to agents and others for collecting and receiving the same at different points in the Atlantic States Now, therefore, same. Resolved, the Senate concurring, That the proper authorities of the Payment General Government are urgently requested to provide, without delay, for the payment, in California, of all pensions due to residents of this State. Resolved, further, That the Governor be requested to forward copies of this Resolution to the President, the Commissioner of Pensions, and to our Senators and Representatives in Congress. Passed April 4, 1855. CHAPTER V. JOINT RESOLUTIONS Praying the Establishment of Mail Routes in Certain Resolved, That our Senators in Congress be instructed, and our Mail routes. Representatives be requested, to urge upon Congress the passage of a law establishing "Mail Routes" in the State of California, from Trinidad, Klamath County, to Orleans Bar (55 miles,) in same county; and from Orleans Bar to Bestville, via the Forks of Salmon River (44 miles ;) also, from Bestville to Petersville (20 miles) in said county; also, from Orleans Bar to Happy Camp (45 miles,) in Klamath County, to Yreka (45 miles,) in Siskiyou County. Resolved, That his Excellency the Governor, be requested to forward a copy of the above resolution to our Senators and Representatives in Congress. Passed April 4, 1855. |