California Supreme Court, 1856

Downer v. Lent

California Supreme Court · Decided July 1, 1856 · Heydenfeldt

6 Cal. 94

Cases that cite this one

31 later published cases cite this decision. The 25 that cite it most often are listed here.

Connelly v. State of California (Cal. Ct. App. 1970)
Wilson v. Sharp (Cal. 1954)
Filarsky v. Delia (Supreme Court of the United States 2012)
Moore v. Conliffe (Cal. 1994)
Muskopf v. Corning Hospital District (Cal. 1961)
Hardy v. Vial (Cal. 1957)
Pearson v. Reed (Cal. Ct. App. 1935)
Leon v. County of Riverside (Cal. 2023)
McKenna v. San Miguel Consolidated Fire Protection Dist. CA4/1 (Cal. Ct. App. 2013)
Filarsky v. Delia (Supreme Court of the United States 2012)
Westlake Community Hospital v. Superior Court (Cal. 1976)
Hirsch v. Department of Motor Vehicles (Cal. Ct. App. 1974)
Martelli v. Pollock (Cal. Ct. App. 1958)
Dawson v. Rash (Cal. Ct. App. 1958)
Caruso v. Abbott (Cal. Ct. App. 1955)
Norton v. Hoffmann (Cal. Ct. App. 1939)
Phelps v. Dawson (8th Cir. 1938)
White v. Brinkman (Cal. Ct. App. 1937)
Jones v. Richardson (Cal. Ct. App. 1935)
Dixon v. City of Reno (Nev. 1920)
Melady v. South St. Paul Live Stock Exchange (Minn. 1919)
Osburn v. Stone (Cal. 1915)
Wyatt v. Arnot (Cal. Ct. App. 1907)
Commonwealth ex rel. Attorney General v. Mathues (Pa. 1904)
Board of Education v. Purse (Ga. 1897)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion of the Court

The opinion of the Court was delivered by Mr. Justice Heydenfeldt.

Mr. Chief Justice Murray and Mr. Justice Terry concurred.

It is beyond controversy, that the power of the Board of Pilot Commissioners is quasi judicial, and they are not civilly answerable. They are public officers to whom the law has entrusted certain duties, the performance of which requires the exercise of judgment. They are unlike a ministerial officer, whose duties are well defined, and who must fail to execute them properly at his own peril.

Whenever, from the necessity of the case, the law is obliged to trust to the sound judgment and discretion of an officer, public policy demands that he should be protected from any consequences of an erroneous judgment.

*96The Court erred in refusing to sustain the demurrer to the declaration; and the judgement is reversed.

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.