People v. Earl

JAMES, J.

This is an appeal taken by the people from a judgment entered for defendant on a demurrer to an indictment.

Defendant was indicted under the provisions of section 619 of the Penal Code, which provides as follows: “Every person who willfully discloses the contents of a telegraphic or telephonic message, or any part thereof, addressed to another person, without the permission of such person, unless directed so to do by the lawful order of a court, is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison not exceeding five years, or in the county jail not exceeding one year, or by fine not ex

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ceeding five thousand dollars, or by both fine and imprisonment. ’ ’

The indictment charged that on the thirty-first day of July, 1911, in the county of Los Angeles, a telegraphic message was transmitted by the United Wireless Telegraph Company by means of its telegraphic apparatus to one F. F. Peard, from the city of Los Angeles, at Avalon, Catalina Island, which said telegram was signed by one Fenner H. Webb. The indictment then proceeds to charge as follows: “That the said Edwin T. Earl did then and there willfully, unlawfully and feloniously print, publish and cause to be printed and published the contents of said message in a certain newspaper, to wit: The ‘Los Angeles Tribune,’ and which said newspaper was then and there printed, published, circulated and distributed in said county to one D. J. Johnson and to the subscribers of said newspaper and to divers other persons (too numerous to mention and to the grand jury unknown and for that reason not herein specifically named), and that he, the said Edwin T. Earl, did then and there and thereby willfully, unlawfully and feloniously disclose the contents of said telegraphic message to the said D. J. Johnson and to the subscribers of said newspaper and to divers other persons (too numerous to mention and to the grand jury unknown and for that reason not herein specifically named), without first having obtained the permission of said F. F. Peard, sometimes called and known as F. S. Peard, so to do, and without having first been directed so to do by the lawful order of a court.” The indictment did not set forth how or in what manner defendant obtained knowledge of the contents of the telegraphic message, nor that he was connected in any way with the transmitting company, or that he had any duty to perform with respect to the transmission of the message. In the demurrer of defendant interposed to the indictment, the ground was assigned that sufficient facts were not charged to show that a public offense had been committed. In reviewing the ruling of the trial judge upon that question it becomes necessary to examine the provisions of the section quoted and to determine whether under the facts alleged the defendant is made to appear to be such a person as is punishable as therein declared. The function of the courts in construing statutes is not constricted to a view which shall give literal effect to