and generally to manage and control all such highways and places. 5. To establish, construct, and maintain drains and sewers. Sewers. 6. To provide fire engines and all other necessary or proper Fire apparatus for the prevention and extinguishment of fires. apparatus. 7. To impose on and collect from every male inhabitant Poll tax. between the ages of twenty-one and sixty years an annual street poll tax, not exceeding two dollars, and no other road poll tax shall be collected within the limits of such city; provided, that any member of the volunteer fire company in such city shall be exempt from such tax. 8. To impose and collect an annual license, not exceeding Dog two dollars, on every dog owned or harbored within the limits license. of the city. tax. 9. To levy and collect, annually, a property tax, which shall Property be apportioned as follows: For the general fund, not exceeding sixty cents on each one hundred dollars; for street fund, not exceeding thirty cents on each one hundred dollars; for school fund, not exceeding twenty cents on each one hundred dollars; for sewer fund, not exceeding ten cents on each one hundred dollars. The levy for all purposes for any one year for all purposes to which such funds are applicable shall not exceed one dollar on each one hundred dollars of the assessed value of all real and personal property within such city. license. 10. To license, for purposes of regulation and revenue, all and Business every kind of business, including the sale of intoxicating liquors, authorized by law and transacted or carried on in such city, and all shows, exhibitions, and lawful games carried on therein; to fix the rates of license upon the same, and to provide for the collection of the same by suit or otherwise. 11. To improve the rivers and streams flowing through such Rivers and city, or adjoining the same; to widen, straighten, and deepen channels. the channels thereof, and remove obstructions therefrom; to improve the waterfront of the city, and to construct and maintain embankments and other works to protect such city from overflow. Railroad 12. To erect and maintain buildings for municipal purposes. Buildings. 13. To permit under such restrictions as they may deem proper, the laying of railroad tracks and running of cars drawn tracks. by horses, steam, electricity, or other power thereon, and the laying of gas or water pipes in the public streets, and to construct and maintain, and to permit the construction and maintenance of, telegraph, telephone, and electric light lines therein. 14. In its discretion to divide the city, by ordinance, into a ward convenient number of wards, not exceeding five, to fix the divisions. boundaries thereof, and to change the same from time to time; provided, that no change in the boundaries of any ward shall be made within sixty days next before the date of said general municipal election, nor within twenty months after the same shall have been established or altered. Whenever such city shall be so divided into wards the Board of Trustees shall designate by ordinance the number of trustees to be elected from Police. Fines, etc. Violators of ordinances. Fire limits. acts, etc. each ward, apportioning the same in proportion to the population of such ward; and thereafter the trustees so designated shall be elected by the qualified electors resident in such ward, or by the general vote of the whole city, as may be designated in such ordinance. 15. To appoint and remove such policemen and such other subordinate officers as they may deem proper, and to fix their duties and compensation. 16. To impose fines, penalties, and forfeitures for any and all violation of ordinances, and for any breach or violation of any ordinance to fix the penalty by fine or imprisonment, or both, but no such fine shall exceed three hundred dollars, nor the term of such imprisonment exceed three months. 17. To cause all persons imprisoned for violation of any ordinance to labor on the streets, or other property or works within the city. 18. To establish the fire limits with proper regulations. 19. To do and perform any and all other acts and things necessary necessary and proper to carry out the provisions of this chapter, and to exact and enforce within the limits of such city all other local, police, sanitary, and other regulations as do not conflict with general laws. SEC. 2. This Act shall take effect immediately. Estrays. To be recorded. Fee. How claim CHAPTER CXXXVII. An Act relating to estrays, and repealing all other Acts and parts of Acts now in force relating to estrays. [Approved March 27, 1897.] The People of the State of California, represented in Senate and SECTION 1. Any person finding at any time any estray domestic animal or animals upon his premises or highways adjacent thereto may take up the same, and no person shall remove them from the possession of the taker-up, or from the possession of the officer to whom they may have been delivered, except as hereinafter provided. SEC. 2. Any person taking up an estray animal or animals shall confine the same in a secure place, and within five days file with the County Recorder of the county in which such estray is found, a notice containing a description of the animal or animals taken up, with the marks and brands, if they have any, together with the probable value of each animal, and a statement of the place where the taker-up found, and where he has confined the same. The County Recorder shall receive for filing said notice the sum of fifty cents. SEC. 3. At any time within thirty days from the date of the shall be es- filing of the notice specified in section two of this Act, any person claiming such estray animal or animals, shall appear before a tablished. Justice of the Peace of the township wherein said animal or animals were found, and make claim for such estray animal or animals. The justice shall enter such claim in his docket, and shall notify the taker-up; and within five days after the making of such claim, the justice shall hear the claim and such evidence as may be produced by either party, and shall determine the case according to the rights of the parties, both with reference to the ownership and possession of the estray animal or animals, and the compensation to be paid to the taker-up and the cost of the proceedings. Such compensation shall be estimated as follows: 1. The total amount paid by the taker-up to the County Recorder. 2. The sum of fifteen cents per day for the keeping and care of each horse, mule, jenny, ass, cow, bull, ox, steer, or calf. 3. The sum of five cents per day for the care of each sheep, goat, hog, or other animal not herein before specified. Compensa tion, how estimated. Justice of The sum of one dollar shall be paid to the Justice of the Peace, Fees of by the party or parties making such claim, for each claim the Peace. made and entered by him as aforesaid, which shall be in full compensation for all services rendered by him in connection with each claim so made. estrays. SEC. 4. If the owner does not appear and claim the animal sale of or animals taken up within thirty days after the filing of the notice herein before mentioned, then the taker-up shall, in writing, notify a constable of the township in which said animal or animals are held, which notice shall specify that he has complied with all of the provisions of this Act, and that the owner of said animal or animals has failed to appear and claim the same as herein provided, and that such animal or animals are held by him subject to sale. Said constable shall immediately proceed to sell such animal or animals at public sale, in conformity with the law concerning sales on execution, and shall be entitled to the same fees as are provided by law for sales under execution. tion of money. SEC. 5. Out of the money realized for the sale of estrays, Disposi the constable shall first retain his fees; he shall then pay to the taker-up his costs and expenses estimated as provided in section three of this Act, or so much thereof as the funds in his hands will permit, and the surplus, if any, he shall pay to the County Treasurer, to be held by him for the owner of the estray or estrays for which it was received in payment. If any person or persons shall, within one year thereafter, prove to the satisfaction of the Board of Supervisors of the county in which the estray or estrays were sold, that he or they are entitled to the sum so held by the County Treasurer, or any part thereof, the said Board of Supervisors shall order such sum to be paid over to such person or persons; and if not so proven within one year, then the same shall become a part of the common school fund of said county. SEC. 6. All sales made by any constable, under the pro- Title. visions of this Act, shall convey a good and valid title to the Liability of taker-up. City pounds. purchaser, and the owner of the estray so sold shall thereafter be barred from all right to recover the same. SEC. 7. The taker-up of an estray animal or animals shall use reasonable care to preserve the same from injury, but if any estray animal or animals die or escape from the possession of the taker-up at any time before the expiration of the time specified in section three of this Act, the taker-up shall not be held liable in any manner on account of such animal. SEC. 8. Nothing in this Act shall affect the laws or regulations in force or which may be in force regarding estrays, the pound keeper, or other pound officer within the limits of any city or town where laws regarding estrays are in force. SEC. 9. All other Acts and parts of Acts relating to estrays, now in force, are hereby repealed. SEC. 10. This Act shall take effect from and after its passage. Annulment of charters framed under Art. XI of the Constitution. CHAPTER CXXXVIII. An Act to enable cities incorporated and operating under a charter framed under section eight, article eleven, of the Constitution, to abandon and annul such charter, and organize under general laws. [Approved March 27, 1897.] The People of the State of California, represented in Senate and SECTION 1. The Common Council, or other legislative body of any city in this State, operating under a charter framed under section eight, article eleven, of the Constitution, shall have power, and it shall be their duty, whenever a petition is presented to them, signed by one half of the qualified electors of such city, by ordinance, to submit to the qualified electors of such city at any general election, the question whether such city shall abandon such charter and reorganize under the general laws of the State providing for the organization, incorporation, and government of municipal corporations. Such election shall be called and held in accordance with the provisions of such charter for calling and holding elections, and if two thirds of such qualified electors voting at such election shall vote to abandon such charter and reorganize under the general laws of the State providing for the organization, incorporation, and government of municipal corporations, such city shall, from and after the thirtieth day after such election, cease to be organized under such charter, and such charter shall be superseded by said general laws, and organized thereunder. In case such proposition shall fail to receive the vote of two thirds of such electors, then the proposition for the abandonment of such charter and reorganization under the general laws shall not be again submitted for two years. SEC. 2. All officers of such city shall continue in office, and their powers under said charter shall not cease, until officers shall have been elected and qualified under said general laws. SEC. 3. This Act shall take effect immediately. CHAPTER CXXXIX. An Act to amend section two hundred and sixty-one of the Penal Code of the State of California, relating to the crime of rape, and what constitutes the same. [Approved March 27, 1897.] The People of the State of California, represented in Senate and SECTION 1. Section two hundred and sixty-one is hereby amended to read as follows: 261. Rape is an act of sexual intercourse, accomplished crime of with a female not the wife of the perpetrator, under either of defined. the following circumstances: 1. Where the female is under the age of sixteen years; 2. Where she is incapable, through lunacy or other unsoundness of mind, whether temporary or permanent, of giving legal consent; 3. Where she resists, but her resistance is overcome by force or violence; 4. Where she is prevented from resisting by threats of great and immediate bodily harm, accompanied by apparent power of execution, or by any intoxicating narcotic, or anæsthetic substance, administered by or with the privity of the accused; 5. Where she is at the time unconscious of the nature of the act, and this is known to the accused; 6. Where she submits under the belief that the person committing the act is her husband, and this belief is induced by any artifice, pretense, or concealment practiced by the accused, with intent to induce such belief. CHAPTER CXL. An Act to secure the payment of the claims of materialmen, mechanics, or laborers, employed by contractors upon state, municipal, or other public work. [Approved March 27, 1897.] The People of the State of California, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: How SECTION 1. Every contractor, person, company, or corpo- claims of ration, to whom is awarded a contract for the execution or materialperformance of any building, excavating, or other mechanical be secured. men shall |