Ex parte Williams

Citations

• 87 Cal. 78
• 25 P. 248
• 1890 Cal. LEXIS 1096

Syllabus

<p>Constitutional Law—House oe Correction in San Francisco—Local Legislation—Punishment oe Crime. —The act of 1878 providing for the sentencing of certain prisoners convicted of felonies or misdemeanors in the city and county of San Francisco to the house of correction in said city and county, in the discretion of the court, is not special or local, either for the punishment of crimes or misdemeanors, or for regulating the practice of the courts of justice, and is not in conflict with section 25, article 4, of the constitution.</p> <p>Id. —Jurisdiction oe Superior Court oe San Francisco. —The superior court of the city and county of San Francisco is the constitutional successor of the municipal criminal court of the city and county of San Francisco, as respects all cases of felony formerly committed to the jurisdiction of that court, and it is its r. evince and right, as the successor of the municipal criminal court, to sentence to the house of correction persons convicted of felony in said city and county who are of the same class as might have been placed therein by the municipal criminal court under the act to establish the house of correction.</p> <p>Id. — Construction oe Statute. — The power of the superior court to sentence a defendant convicted of felony in the city and county of San Francisco to the house of correction therein, under the terms of the act of 1878, is not affected by the act of 1885 “to provide for the commitment of persons convicted of crime to the house of correction,” which relates only to minor offenses, punishable by imprisonment in the county jail, without regard to age.</p> <p>Id.—Age oe Prisoner Convicted oe Felony — Presumption — Habeas Corpus. —Where the record is silent as to the age of a prisoner committed to the house of correction upon conviction of a felony, the court must be presumed to have discharged its duty in ascertaining the fact that the prisoner was under twenty-five years of age at the date of judgment; and whether the