20 P. 24 | Cal. | 1888
On October 23, 1888, the judgment of the court below was affirmed herein, upon an opinion written by
On November 26, 1888, an order was made herein, directing James McM. Shatter, Charles H. Parker and Frederick H. Waterman, members of the firm of Shatter, Parker & Waterman, attorneys and counselors at law, to appear before this court at its courtroom in the city of San Francisco, on the tenth day of December, 1888, at 10 A. M., then and there to show cause why they, and each of them, should not be punished for contempt. In obedience to the order- said attorneys appeared before the court, and, it satisfactorily appearing from the statements of Messrs. Shafter and Parker that they were in nowise to blame for the language used in the petition—in fact, had nothing to do with its preparation —the order, as to them, was discharged: 20 Pac. 26, post, p. 39. The respondent Waterman filed a written statement and made a verbal explanation, in which he disavowed emphatically any intention to cast reproach or reflection on any of the commissioners, or on any member of this court, or to show disrespect or incivility in any sense whatever. His sole object, he said, was to put the matter before the court in as forcible a manner as possible, without disrespect, so that the individual members of the court would be induced to make a searching examination of the record. He admitted, however, that, upon reflection, the language was improper, and liable to the construction which the court evidently placed upon it.
These disclaimers by the respondent we accept as true, so far as it is possible to do so without giving a constrained construction to the language used by him in his petition for a rehearing. It may be that he acted in good faith, and without any design, wish, or expectation -of committing any contempt, and we accept his explanation in palliation of the offense; but the language we have quoted from his petition for a rehearing is too plain and direct in its imputation of negligence and bad faith to authorize us in taking the disavowal of the defendant as sufficient to purge him of con
Upon the facts contained in the petition for rehearing, and quoted above, we adjudge the respondent Waterman guilty of contempt, committed in the face of the court; and, as a punishment therefor, it is ordered and adjudged that said Waterman pay a fine of $200. It is further ordered that said $200 be paid to the clerk of this court on or before the twentieth day of December, 1888, and that, in default of such payment, he, Frederick H. Waterman, respondent, be im
We concur: Searls, C. J.; McFarland, J.; Thornton, J.
I dissent: Sharpstein, J.