In re Tyler

McKee, J. —From the return to the writ issued in this proceeding it appears, that the petitioner has been imprisoned under an order of commitment, made by the Superior Court of the city and county of San Francisco, for a contempt of court, of which he has been adjudged guilty and sentenced to pay a fine of five hundred dollars, or be imprisoned until payment of the fine at the rate of two dollars per day for every day’s imprisonment.

The order was made by a court of competent jurisdiction, and the only questions arising out of the return are whether the act for which the petitioner has been adjudged guilty and punished constituted a punishable contempt of court; and whether the court exceeded its jurisdiction in the punishment which it inflicted.

[435]An act which is lawful or meritorious in itself, or which has been done in the assertion of a lawful right, is not a punishable criminal act merely because it has been so adjudged. In this instance the act condemned and punished consisted of writing and sending to a grand jury, then sitting in the court in and for Avhicli it had been empaneled and SAvorn, a letter, signed by the petitioner as “ attorney for Mrs. Sharon,” and addressed to “ W. T. Garrett, Esq., and members of the grand jury,” reflecting by severe and opprobrious language upon the conduct and integrity of the jurors in connection with charges, which Avere the subject of investigation against the woman Avhom the petitioner represented as attorney. In substance, it accused and denounced many of the jurors of permitting themselves to be corruptly used by a person of wealth, for the purpose of making presentments or finding indictments against the Avoman, upon matters which Avere the subject of litigation between her and him in the civil courts, to gratify his private malice, to oppress and crush the woman by his Avealth, and to obstruct the course of justice in the civil tribunals.

If the invectives against the person named in the letter, and others, Avho are accused of having been hired by him to aid and abet him in his design, were founded upon facts, and the petitioner, as an attorney of the court, had suggested them to the court in a regular Avay, it is not to be doubted that upon such a suggestion judicial inquiry Avould have been instituted, and that, if there Avere adduced any evidence at all to sustain the suggestion, prompt action Avould have been taken to vindicate the laAV, maintain the respect due to the court, and to protect the court and the grand jury under its supervision and legal control against persons implicated in the attempt to commit, or in the commission of such criminal acts. For it is criminal to tamper AA’itli or to attempt to tamper with a jury or judicial officers in the performance of their "duties. Bribing, or offering to bribe, corruptly influencing, or attempting to influence, a juror by means of promises or assurances of any pecuniary or other advantage, or by means of any threat, intimidation, persuasion, or entreaty, or by means of any communication, oral or Avritten, had with him, except in the regular course of proceedings, in respect to his verdict or decision in any cause or proceeding, are