Any person interested in the drainage district or in the issue or deposit of such bonds, or in such other proceedings as may be in issue as herein provided, may demur to or answer the petition. The provisions of Chapter LXXXVIII of the New Mexico Statutes Annotated, Codification of 1915, respecting demurrer or answer to a verified complaint, shall be applicable to such proceeding. Any person so demurring or answering the petition shall be deemed a defendant to such special proceedings, and the board of directors shall be deemed to be the plaintiff.

Every material allegation of the petition not specifically controverted by answer, shall, for the purpose of such special proceeding, be taken as true; and each person failing to appear, demur or answer the petition shall be deemed to admit as true all the material allegations of the petition.

The rules of pleading and practice relating to appeals and writs of error as provided by the aforesaid Chapter LXXXVIII which are not inconsistent with the provisions of this act [73-8-1 to 73-8-60 NMSA 1978], shall be applicable to the special proceedings herein provided for. Provided, appeals to the supreme court of the state, involving special proceedings herein mentioned, shall be taken within thirty days, and shall be perfected within sixty days after the granting of any such appeal.

History: Laws 1917, ch. 22, § 57; C.S. 1929, § 40-257; 1941 Comp., § 77-2057; 1953 Comp., § 75-21-57.

Bracketed material. — The bracketed material was inserted by the compiler and is not part of the law.

Compiler's notes. — The provisions of Code 1915, ch. 88, referred to in this section, refer to §§ 4067 to 4529 of the Code of 1915 relative to procedure in the district court. Many of these sections were superseded by the Rules of Civil Procedure for the district courts. See 38-1-1 NMSA 1978 and annotations. For current sections of Chapter 88 of the Code of 1915 see the parallel table for the Code of 1915 to the NMSA 1978 in the Table of Corresponding Code Sections in the last volume of this compilation. See Rule 1-001 NMRA et seq. and Rule 23-101 NMRA et seq.

The words "this act" in this section refers to Laws 1917, ch. 22, §§ 1 to 60, now compiled as 73-8-1 to 73-8-60 NMSA 1978.

Cross references. — See Rule 12-601 to 12-608 NMRA for rules of the Supreme Court involving appeals of special proceedings.

For demurrers, pleas and exceptions for insufficiency of a pleading not to be used, see Rule 1-007(C) NMRA.