Spring Valley Water Works v. Board of Supervisors

McKee, J.:. The Spring Valley Water Company was organized June 19, 1858, under an Act of the Legislature passed April 22, 1858. (Stat. 1858, p. 218.)

Object of its incorporation was, according to its certificate of incorporation, "to introduce into the City and County of San Francisco pure fresh water, for the purpose of furnishing it to the city and its inhabitants; and, in connection therewith, to transact all such business as might be necessary, proper and consistent with the laws and Constitution of the State of California.”

In January, 1878—nearly twenty years after its incorporation— it…