Works v. Superior Court

Contempt—Bias and Prejudice of Judge—Motion fob Change of Judge.—Since the amendment of 1897 to section 170 of the Code of Civil Procedure, making the bias and prejudice of the judge a ground of objection to his competency to try a cause, a party making such an objection may file affidavits in support of his motion for a change of trial judges without being guilty of a contempt, unless he purposely includes matters wholly irrelevant and immaterial, and which are justly offensive to the judge who must pass upon the motion.

Id.—Hostility of Judge to Attorney.—Since the passage of such amendment, an attorney at law who appears for a party objecting to a trial judge on the ground of his alleged bias and prejudice is not guilty of contempt in causing to be inserted in the moving affidavits the fact that he, as the attorney for the moving party in another case, had filed a brief in the supreme court which the trial judge had regarded as a reflection upon himself, and that the judge had since refused to speak to the attorney. Such fact, though by no means conclusive, is relevant and material on the question of bias and prejudice.