Harder v. Lucot

THE COURT.

The petitioners were arrested upon a warrant issued by the justice of the peace of Township No. 1 of the county of Amador, charging them with a misdemeanor, described as follows, to wit: “Violation of Ordinance No. 184

[154]

of the Board of Supervisors of the County of Amador, warrant dated June 5th, 1935. ’ ’

While counsel in this case have argued at length, and with considerable ability, the right of law-making bodies to prohibit peaceful picketing, and have cited a great many decisions where certain acts have been held unlawful, and certain cases wherein appears a statement that in the absence of legislation to the contrary, peaceable picketing cannot be prohibited, all of which cases we have carefully examined. Nevertheless, a consideration of Ordinance No. 184 of the board of supervisors of the county of Amador precludes our expressing any opinion as to whether what counsel has called “peaceful picketing” may or may not be prohibited.

The ordinance in question, as shown by section 1, being the prohibitive portion of the ordinance, is so indefinite and uncertain as to render it void. That section reads: “It shall be unlawful, in Amador County and outside of incorporated cities or towns therein, to do picketing, in connection with any strike, or otherwise, upon any public highway, or upon any private property without the consent of the owner thereof. ’ ’ While there may be some question as to the power of the board of supervisors to exclude people from the public highway or from using the public highway so long as they do not obstruct the free use and passage thereof by other persons, by reason of what we are about to say it is unnecessary to decide this question. The uncertainty which renders the ordinance under consideration void is that the offense of picketing sought to be prohibited by section 1 contains no definition or description of what acts shall constitute picketing accompanied by violence.

A reference to the case of

People

v.

Armentrout,

118 Cal. App. (Supp.) 761 [1 Pac. (2d) 556], appellate department of the superior court, to which our attention has been called, and upon which much of the argument of counsel is based, shows that section 1 of the ordinance upheld in that ease described the acts which would constitute picketing.