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much to illumine the doubtful provisions of these enactments, and dissipate the mists that obscure their true meaning.

Therefore, by publishing in book form the statutes now in force, relative to street work, and annotating the sections with notes and excerpts from the decisions of our Supreme Court construing these or similar provisions, the reader, in a comparatively short time, may so far master this whole subject as to equip himself with a comprehensive knowledge of these laws.

The aim and object of this book is, therefore, to present together in one book all the general statutory enactments upon the subject of street work, together with such annotations and citations from the decisions of our Supreme Court as will serve to interpret the true meaning of these statutes, and in doing so the author has endeavored to cite every case upon this subject that has ever been decided by the Supreme Court of this state.

It is not the purpose of this book to consider general principles, either of street law in general or of street assessments. These general principles may readily be found in works upon streets, roads and highways, and in works upon assessments and taxation. The sole aim of the author is to present to the profession, and to those interested therein, the street law of California as the same is found in the general statutory enactments of this state upon the subject of street work and street improvement, and to exemplify the meaning of these statutory provisions by cases cited from the decisions of our own courts. The questions arising out of these statutes are principally questions of interpretation and construction, and it would be idle, therefore, to cite the decisions of the courts of other states whose statutory provisions are unlike our Nevertheless, wherever the author has thought there might be any question as to the constitutionality of any of these statutes or of any of the provisions thereof, that has not been directly settled by the decisions of our own Supreme Court, he has stated the questions that have thus suggested themselves to his mind, and has in this connection, cited some few decisions by the highest courts of other states. However, as the questions which these statutes give rise to are, in the main, questions of interpretation or construction, it is impossible to foresee, how many of the questions arising out of these street laws, will ultimately be settled by the Supreme Court. Nevertheless, the author has everywhere endeavored to reach a correct interpretation, and to extract from the cases a statement of gen

eral doctrines which shall aid in the solution of future. questions, and has not hesitated to express his own views and opinions, but such speculations and arguments are always plainly indicated and represented in their real character, so that the reader need never confound them with the results of actual judicial decision, and be thus led to accept as settled law what is only a personal conviction or suggestion of the author.

Los Angeles, Cal., December 1, 1893.

FRANK G. FINLAYSON.

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