People v. Howard

Citations

• 111 Cal. 655
• 44 P. 342
• 1896 Cal. LEXIS 635

Syllabus

<p>Criminal Law—Perjury—Insufficient Complaint—Failure to Aver Jurisdictional Facts-Motion to Set Aside Information.—A complaint for perjury alleged to have been committed in a criminal proceeding in a recorder’s court which fails affirmatively to state facts showing that the recorder’s court had jurisdiction of the subject matter of the action in which the oath was taken, or that the offense charged in that action was committed within the jurisdiction of the recorder’s court, is insufficient as a basis for an examination or commitment for the crime of perjury, and a motion to set aside an information for such crime, upon the ground that the defendant had not been legally committed by a magistrate, should be granted.</p> <p>Id.—Information Limited by Complaint.—-The complaint lodged with the magistrate constitutes the basis of the prosecution, and the defendant may be informed against and tried for any offense charged in the com- ■ plaint, or included therein, but beyond that limitation the prosecution cannot go, and if the complaint is insufficient to charge a public offense, no information thereon can be sustained.</p> <p>Id. —Test or Scpficienot of Complaint.—The complaint must show that the defendant has been guilty of some designated offense; though it need not necessarily charge the offense with all the technical nicety of an indictment or information; but it must state the essential elements of the crime to a common certainty.</p>