101 Wash. 148 | Wash. | 1918
On February 2, 1918, one Arthur Garden appeared before the Honorable Harcourt M. Taylor, one of the judges of the superior court of Yakima county, and made complaint that a criminal offense had been committed by one W. P. Murphy. The judge, acting as a magistrate, examined on oath the complainant and the witnesses provided by him, reduced the complaint to writing, caused it to he subscribed by the complainant, and issued a warrant for the arrest of Murphy. The warrant as issued charged Murphy with the commission of an assault upon the person of Garden, an offense denominated and punishable as a gross misdemeanor under the statute. On being brought before the magistrate, Murphy, through his counsel, moved the court to dismiss the complaint and discharge the defendant, basing the motion on the ground that the judge, sitting as a magistrate, was without jurisdiction to inquire further into the offense after it had been determined that the offense committed was a gross misdemeanor. This motion was overruled, whereupon the defendant, specially reserving his motion to the jurisdiction of the magistrate, moved that the cause he transferred to the nearest justice of the peace for further proceedings, basing this motion on the ground that, since the, complaint charged a gross misdemeanor a police court had jurisdiction, and that he had the right under the statutes to he put to trial for the alleged offense before such a justice, who alone had authority to transfer the cause to the superior court if it
On the jurisdictional question, it is first urged that this court is without power to issue a writ of prohibition other than in aid of its appellate or revisory jurisdiction, and that this writ is not sought in aid of either. The power of this court to issue writs of prohibition is derived from the constitution. Section 4 of article 4 of that instrument grants to this court ‘ ‘ original jurisdiction in habeas corpus and quo warranto and mandamus as to all state officers,” and “power to issue writs of mandamus, review, prohibition, habeas corpus, certiorari, and all other writs necessary and proper to the complete exercise of its appellate and revisory jurisdiction.” The power to issue writs of prohibition must of course be found in the latter of these clauses. From that clause it might he concluded, as a matter of first impression, that the power was restricted to instances where the writ was found necessary in aid of the court’s appellate and revisory jurisdiction ; hut we early held that such was not its meaning. In State ex rel. Amsterdamsch Trustees Kantoor v. Superior Court, 15 Wash. 668, 47 Pac. 31, 55 Am. St. 907, 37 L. R. A. 111, the writ was sought to prohibit a superior court from proceeding in a matter thought to
A second objection is that the writ will not lie against the judge of the superior court when sitting as a magistrate. The argument is that the judge of the superior court when sitting as a magistrate acts in a special capacity, and is not an officer against whom an original writ will lie from this court. The precise question seems never to have been determined by us. The nearest approach to it is perhaps the case of State ex rel. Romano v. Yakey, 43 Wash. 15, 85 Pac. 990, where a writ of mandamus was sought from this court to compel a judge of the superior court to entertain as a magistrate a complaint made before him charging
The power to inquire into accusations of crime is, we think, an attribute of the office held by the officer ■empowered to so inquire, rather than an attribute of the individual who happens for the time being to be the occupant of the office. True, the statute conferring the power uses the terms “justice of the peace” and “judge of the superior court” in designating the officers vested with the power, but to say that the justice
Perhaps the point can be made more clear by another consideration. It is not denied, of course, that a magistrate, acting as such, may not be restrained by a writ of prohibition when he acts in excess of or without jurisdiction; the contention is that he is not subject to the original jurisdiction of this court, but to the jurisdiction of the superior court. If this contention be sound, we would have the anomaly of a judge of the superior court while sitting in one capacity issuing a writ against himself while sitting in another, or the anomaly of a magistrate against whom no such writ would lie. Manifestly neither of these alternatives should be given effect unless the governing principles are such as to admit of no other construction. We cannot believe they are so.
“Upon complaint being made to any justice of the peace, or judge of the superior court, that a criminal offense has been committed, he shall examine on oath the complainant, and any witness provided by him, and shall reduce the complaint to writing, and shall cause the same to be subscribed by the complainant; and if it shall appear that any offense has been committed of which the superior court has exclusive jurisdiction, the magistrate shall issue a warrant reciting the substance of the accusation, and requiring the officer to whom it shall be directed forthwith to take the person accused and bring him before the person issuing the warrant, unless he shall be absent or unable to attend thereto, then before some other magistrate of the county, to be dealt with according to law, and in the same warrant may require the officer to summon such witnesses as shall be therein named, to appear and give evidence on the examination.”
Section 1955 reads:
“If it shall appear that an offense has been committed of which a justice of the peace has jurisdiction, and one which would be sufficiently punished by a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars, if the magistrate having the complaint is a justice of the peace, he shall cause the complaint to be altered, and proceed as in like cases before a justice of the peace . . . and shall, by order, require the defendant and the witnesses to enter into recognizances, with sufficient sureties, to*156 be approved by the magistrate, for their appearance before snch justice at the time and place stated in the order; and such justice shall proceed to the trial of the action as if originally commenced before him. ’ ’
Stating the substance of these statutes in a more .succinct form, it is therein provided, (1) that justices of the peace have concurrent jurisdiction with the superior courts over all cases of gross misdemeanor; (2) that, when a complaint is made before a justice of the peace charging a person with a gross misdemeanor, it is the duty of the justice to issue a warrant for the arrest of the accused and cause the accused to be brought before him for trial; (3) that when the accused is brought before the justice for trial for an offense within the concurrent jurisdiction of the superior court he is entitled as of right to be tried by a jury, and entitled as of right to have the jury determine whether the acts constituting the offense of which he is accused can be sufficiently punished by the penalties the justice’s court is empowered to inflict; (4) that a justice of the peace or judge of the superior court when acting as a magistrate, is empowered to issue a warrant for the arrest and examination of a person charged with crime only when the crime charged is within the exclusive jurisdiction of the superior court; and (5) that a magistrate is only empowered to transfer a cause for trial before a justice of the peace when the offense with which the accused is charged is within the exclusive jurisdiction of the superior court, and he finds during the course of the examination that the offense actually committed is one within the jurisdiction of a justice of the peace and one which would be sufficiently punished by the penalties a justice of the peace is empowered to inflict.
It must follow that the respondent, acting as a magistrate, was without authority, over the objection of the
It is not here asserted, of course, that a grand jury may not indict for a gross misdemeanor without a trial before á justice of the peace, or that the prosecuting attorney may not file an information directly in the superior court for such an offense without such a trial; we hold only that the power of a magistrate to inquire into offenses is confined to offenses within the exclusive jurisdiction of the superior courts.
These considerations lead to the conclusion that the magistrate was in this instance acting in excess of his powers, and that this particular magistrate is subject to the writs of this court.
Let the writ issue.
Ellis, O. J., Parker, Main, and Webster, JJ., concur.