Taylor v. Hughes

Application for writ of certiorari to review a judgment of a Justice’s Court, and adjudging the defendant guilty of a violation of Section 637, Penal Code.

The petition was as follows:

“Your petitioner would respectfully show to this Honorable Court that on or about the sixteenth day of May, 1882, a complaint was filed and a warrant issued out of the Justice’s Court of the Township of San Rafael, Marin County, State of California, whereof W. S. Hughes is the Justice, against S. P. Taylor. That the said complaint charged your petitioner with having committed the crime of misdemeanor. That the act of your petitioner so constituting the alleged misdemeanor as charged in the said complaint is as follows: Said S. P. Taylor, then and there being the owner of a dam which obstructs the waters of Papermill Creek in Marin County, California, failed to construct and keep in repair sufficient fishways on such dam; the said S. P. Taylor having theretofore, to wit, on the fifth day of May, 1882, been requested to construct and keep in repair sufficient fishways ■ on such dam by the Fish Commissioners of the State of California. That your petitioner demurrer to and moved to dismiss the said complaint upon the grounds that the acts charged in said complaint did not constitute a public offense and that more than one offense is charged in said complaint. That the court thereupon overruled the said demurrer and denied the said motion to dismiss the said complaint, and thereafter such proceedings were had that the defendant was convicted of the crime of misdemeanor as charged in the said complaint. That thereafter, to wit, on the seventeenth day of June, your petitioner moved in arrest of judgment, on the grounds that the said Justice’s Court had no jurisdiction in the premises; that the complaint filed herein does not state facts sufficient to constitute a public offense, and that more than one offense is charged in said complaint. That the Court thereupon denied said motion in arrest of judgment, and thereafter, to wit, on the seventeenth day of June, 1882, sentenced your petitioner to pay a fine of fifty dollars. That the defendant, your petitioner, thereafter duly appealed to the Superior Court of Marin County on a statement of the case from the said order and judgment of the said Justice’s Court overruling the said demurrer to the said complaint, and from the order denying defendant’s motion to dismiss the said action, and from the order denying defendant’s motion in arrest of judgment, and thereafter such proceedings were had that on the second day of October, 1882, the -said Superior Court affirmed the judgment of the said Justice’s Court, and a remittitur was issued forthwith to the said Justice’s Court, and directing said Court to execute its said judgment. That the said Justice’s Court is about forthwith to execute its said judgment. That your petitioner shows that the said Justice’s Court had not any jurisdiction to try said cause or render judgment against the defendant, nor to enforce the same, for the reason that the said act so charged in the said complaint, and of which your petitioner was convicted as aforesaid, constitutes no misdemeanor or public offense, or any offense known to the law. That the said Justice’s Court of the Township of San Rafael, County of Marin, exercising judicial functions, exceeded its jurisdiction in overruling defendant’s demurrer to the said complaint, in denying defendant’s motion to dismiss said action, and in denying defendant’s motion in arrest of judgment, and in proceeding with the trial of said matter, and in convicting the defendant of a misdemeanor in doing the act charged in the complaint, and in now proceeding to the enforcement of its said judgment. That there is no further appeal in said cause from the acts of said Justice’s Court; and there is not any plain, speedy, or adequate remedy to the defendant, your petitioner, other than by writ of review. Therefore your petitioner respectfully prays your Honorable Supreme Court of the State of California, under its seal, to issue to G. W. Davis, Esq., County Clerk of said Marin County, and to the Justice’s Court of San Rafael Township, County of Marin, State aforesaid, and to the Justice, W. S. Hughes, thereof, a writ of review directing the said Justice’s Court through its proper officers and G. W. Davis, County Clerk, to transmit and certify to your Honorable Supreme Court the judgment roll and records, and a transcript of -the records and proceedings, including the statement on appeal in the said action of the People of the State of California against S. P. Taylor, and prays that your Honorable Court will so order in the premises as to it may seem lawful and meet, and your petitioner will ever pray.