Attorney General v. Boards of Supervisors

We are asked to issue a writ of mandamus to compel two adjoining counties to rebuild a bridge across a navigable stream which is the boundary line between them. This is upon the grounds — First, that it is a common-law duty; and, second, that the counties are under contract obligations with the State to do so. Whatever we may think of these two grounds as furnishing a sufficient reason for such relief as is here asked, in ordinary cases, we are of the opinion that the legislature has authorized the building of a bridge, to take the place of the former one, upon a different site, thereby…