Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-02-09
A. Allsssa Illsealisy IN she Nsv.
Charter.

y ''- ~ ~ s ~
N Allegsa IllsgalAsy IN she New
Charter.
There are . number Of young lawyers,
Of both political parties, who are said to
be aspirants for the positions of City
Police Judges. Perhaps when they have
looked into the provisions of the charter
by which the places are established, and
studied up some of the existing laws on
the subject of City Justices, they will not
feel inclined to try for anything 30 un-
certain in it's character.
Much doubt appears to exist in the
public mind as to what are the duties Of
these new officers, and what relation
they bear to those of the justices already
existing. There are at present three
Justices of the Peace doing business in
Los ANGLER. One of these, Justice Saw
age, is an officer of the Township, and
need not be taken into the calculation,
The others are Austin and Lockwood
who hold their places by virtue of gen.
eral law, Section 103 of the Code of Civil
Procedure, which provides that in cities
of more than &c, 600 inhabitants. and Lees
than 100 GOO, there shall be two city JUS
tees of the Peace. Their duties are
clearly defined, and their salaries fixed
at 81 900 year.
The idea prevailed for time tha
these police judges were to supercede
the two city justices. Councilman CohI
took that view of the case, and remarked
at the Council meeting last Monday tha
it was certainly not the intention of the
freeholders to saddle four city justices
upon the taxpayers. The City Attorney
gave it as his opinion that. inasmuch al
the city justiceship were created by s
State law, separate and distinct from the
Charter, that the police judges did mo-
supercede them.
In looking up the question of wha
were to be the distinct duties of these
police judges, HERALD reporter yester
day came upon George w. Knox, who
has made special study of the Charter
and its various points of conflict with exist
ing laws. Mr.. Knox called attention to 6
law which bore on the matter, ,and which
had been thus far completely overlooked
in the discussion of the case. The ap
parent extraordinary effect of this stat
ute, which has never been repealed
amended or otherwise weakened, is tc
completely knock these proposed police
justiceships out of existence.
The law was passed March, 1885, and
is found in Section 4,424 of the Politica
Code. 1t is entitled can act to provide
for police courts in cities having 10000
inhabitants, and under 100000, and tc
provide for the officers thereof" The
first section provides that in every such
city "the judicial power shall be vested
in the police court to be held therein by
city justices, or one of them, to be des
ignated by the mayor, but either of sale
city justices may hold such court
without such designation ii. O..
they may be elected by the people.
and it is hereby made the duty of said
city justices, in addition to the duties
now required of them by law, to hold
such police court"
Section says: "The police court shall
have exclusive jurisdiction of the follow
ing offenses committed within the city,
Then are enumerated the various OF.
lenses generally included in the jurisdic
tion of lower court, ending with the
words: "And all misdemesnors punish.
able by fine or imprisonment, or by both
such fine or imprisonment"
Now, the new Charter was adopted
by the city and passed upon
by the Legislature by virtue
of the second amendment to the Consti-
tuition OF the State, passed in 1887. The
amendment provides that charter pro-
vided for a city under the conditions
mentioned shall not contain any provi-
sion that is in violation of the Constitu.
tion or inconsistent with any general
law. The law of 1885, above quoted, is
a general law.
"The outcome of the present muddle,
as 1 understand it," said Mr.. Knox,
''will be that when the two police
judges are elected - if the city
goes ahead and elects them =
they will find all their proposed
duties taken away from them by an ex'
listing general law, which the charter
cannot override; and it will be actually
contrary to law for them to assume to
hold a court. This happens to be merely
one of a good many things which are
going to be found illegal and impossible
in this new charter, but it is very en-
tertaining one. As the salaries of these
officers are fixed by the Council. when
the discovery is made that the existing
CAty COul tS oAC sAfCh ehO CAOluoAFO Ju-
risdiction of all police business, 1 am
afraid that the men who get the positions
will find themselves quite without either
employment or emolument."
'But how about the 10000 population
matter?" asked the reporter. Has
Los Angeles legally such a population
1t has not according to the United
States census"
every true; but no law makes the
United States census authority on thai
question. If it came up, expert testi
mony would have to determine the mat
ter"
The reporter found the views of Mr.
Knox corroborated by several other law
yers to whom he submitted the case. l
is we'll worth the study and attention o
those who have their eyes on these TIVE
new positions.
The Child Beater.
Joseph Kolb, the man who was &C
cused of having cruelty ill-used his chill
dren, appeared before Justice Austil
yesterday for sentence. The coroner