People v. Christie

95 Cal.App.2d Supp. 919 (1949) THE PEOPLE, Respondent,

v.

JAMES K. CHRISTIE, Appellant.

California Court of Appeals.

Nov. 25, 1949. Stanford & McDonough for Appellant.

James Don Keller, District Attorney, and Ned A. Kimball, Deputy District Attorney, for Respondent.

BURCH, J.

Defendant was convicted in a trial by jury of violating section 15 of the Chiropractic Act [Stats. 1923, p. xx, 2 Deering's Gen. Laws, Act 4811], an initiative measure adopted by the people in November, 1922. Defendant is a licensee under the act and held himself out to the public by business cards and a sign on his office window as a "chiropractic physician." The jury was instructed, in effect, that if they found the defendant used the word "physician" they must find him guilty under the act. On appeal, defendant makes no contention that the section is unconstitutional. It is his position that his use of the term "chiropractic physician" is not deceptive of his status as a licensed chiropractor, and that on a proper construction of the section he was entitled to go to the jury on the question whether by using the word "physician" he indicated to the public that he held a license other than to practice chiropractic.

The section of the initiative measure in question reads as follows:

"Any person who shall practice or attempt to practice chiropractic, or any person who shall buy, sell or fraudulently obtain a license to practice chiropractic, whether recorded or not, or who shall use the title 'chiropractor' or 'D.C.' or any word or title to induce, or tending to induce belief that he is engaged in the practice of chiropractic, without first complying with the provisions of this act; or any licensee under this act who uses the word 'doctor' or the prefix 'Dr.' without the word 'chiropractor', or 'D.C.' immediately following his name, or the use of the letters 'M.D.' or the words 'doctor of medicine,' or the term 'surgeon,' or the term 'physician,' or the word 'osteopath,' or the letters 'D.O.' or any other [95 Cal.App.2d Supp. 921] letters, prefixes or suffixes, the use of which would indicate that he or she was practicing a profession for which he held no license from the state of California, or any person who shall violate any of the provisions of this act, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not less than fifty dollars and not more than two hundred dollars, or by imprisonment in the county jail for not less than thirty days nor more than ninety days, or both."