30 P.2d 571 | Cal. Ct. App. | 1934
The petitioner seeks to obtain his discharge from custody by means of a writ of habeas corpus on the ground that the statute under which he was convicted of wilfully and fraudulently failing to pay the wages of an employee upon his discharge, is unconstitutional, and because the complaint fails to state a public offense.
The same matter was previously determined adversely to the petitioner upon a petition for a writ of certiorari. (Sears
v. Superior Court,
The petitioner contends that the justice's court was without jurisdiction to try the cause or pronounce judgment for the reason that neither count of the complaint states a public offense, and because the act is unconstitutional since it violates the provisions of article I, section 15, of the Constitution of California, which provides: "No person shall be imprisoned for debt in any civil action, on mesne or final process, unless in cases of fraud, nor in civil actions for torts, except in cases of wilful injury to person or property; and no person shall be imprisoned for a militia fine in time of peace."
[1] Conceding that the first count of the complaint fails to state a public offense, the petitioner is still not entitled to be discharged from custody for the reason that we have previously held that the second count does sufficiently state a public offense of which the justice's court had jurisdiction and that the Workmen's Wages Act in question is not unconstitutional. (Sears v. Superior Court, supra.) A petition for a hearing of the certiorari case in the Supreme Court, after a decision had been rendered in this District Court of Appeal, was denied. The scope of inquiry upon this petition for a writ of habeas corpus
is exactly the same as it was in the certiorari proceeding. The previous decision in the certiorari proceeding is therefore determinative of all of the issues which are involved in this petition for a writ of *311 habeas corpus. (In re Drew,
[2] We are still of the opinion the second count of the complaint states sufficient facts to constitute a public offense against the petitioner contrary to the provisions of section 6 of the Workmen's Wages Act, supra, for the reasons stated in thecertiorari proceeding above cited, and that the portion of the statute under which the petitioner was convicted is constitutional.
The writ of habeas corpus is denied and the prisoner is remanded.
Pullen, P.J., and Plummer, J., concurred.