Cal. Apartment Assn. v. City of Pasadena (2025)

Citation: Cal. Apartment Assn. v. City of Pasadena (2025)
Parent Document: Cal. Apartment Assn. v. City of Pasadena (2025)
Jurisdiction: California (state)
Effective Date: 2025-12-18
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10761039/cal-apartment-assn-v-city-of-pasadena/ ↗

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provision, a court may consider . . . the record of the debates.”];
Story v. Richardson (1921) 186 Cal. 162, 165 [to aid in
interpreting ambiguous terms in the Constitution, courts may
consider “the debates in a constitutional convention”].)
Petitioners point out that a proponent of the provision remarked
that “[p]roperty qualifications of any and every kind are not in
consonance with the spirit of the American State.” (1 Willis &
Stockton, Debates & Proceedings, Cal. Const. Convention 1878-
1879 (Willis & Stockton), p. 269 [remarks of delegate J. Richard
Freud], italics added.) While petitioners argue this statement
establishes the word “property” should be read broadly to include
each and every kind of property interest, the rest of the delegate’s
remarks reveal a specific focus on qualifications based on real
property ownership. For instance, the delegate later stated:
“[T]he American nation is eminently a nation of landholders and
property owners. This provision, then, is essentially a protection
and encouragement to the small landless minority.” (3 Willis &
Stockton, at p. 1192 [remarks of delegate J. Richard Freud],
italics added; see also 1 Willis & Stockton, at p. 269 [remarks of
delegate J. Richard Freud] [“When we come to look into the
question there is in reality no laboring man who is not a property
owner—no laboring man who is not a taxpayer. Capital is
nothing but accumulated labor, and he who assists in the
accumulation is no less a capitalist than a laborer. The man who
drives my wagon is honest, and honorable, and intelligent, but
while he has no property he certainly helps me to pay the taxes
upon mine. His name as well as mine should appear upon the
assessment roll.”], italics added; id. [remarks of delegate Henry
Edgerton] [stating, in response to remarks of delegate Freud, “A
man has a right to seek an office. He has a right to vote.

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