State ex rel. Belt v. Kennan

Citations

• 25 Wash. 621
• 66 P. 62
• 1901 Wash. LEXIS 442

Syllabus

<p>PROHIBITION, WRIT OF — TO JUSTICE OF PEACE — OTHER ADEQUATE REMEDY.</p> <p>The action of the superior court in granting a writ of prohibition to prohibit a justice of the peace from further proceeding in the prosecution of a defendant for a misdemeanor because, as viewed by the superior court, the justice was proceeding without jurisdiction and his conclusion' would be void, will not be disturbed on appeal to the supreme court therefrom, when it is questionable whether the defendant would have an adequate remedy by appeal from the judgment of the justice.</p> <p>TRIAL BY JURY — RIGHT TO — VIOLATION OF CITY ORDINANCES.</p> <p>Violation of city ordinances do not fall within the class of misdemeanors against the state, under which the accused is guaranteed the right of trial by jury, from the mere fact that Bal. Code, § 739, subd. 36, provides for the arrest, trial and punishment of all persons charged with violating any of the ordinances of cities of the first class, “but such punishment shall in no case exceed the punishment provided by the laws of the state for misdemeanors,” since Laws 1899, p. 135, specially defining the jurisdiction of the justice of the peace selected as police justice in such cities, provides that he shall have exclusive jurisdiction over all offenses defined by any ordinance of the city, and that in the trials of actions for violations thereof, “no jury shall be allowed.”</p> <p>SAME — CONSTITUTIONAL LAW.</p> <p>The constitutional right of trial by jury is not impaired by the summary trial and punishment of a person for the violation of a city ordinance against disorderly conduct, since such constitutional guaranty does not extend to petty and minor offenses.</p> <p>CITY ORDINANCE AGAINST DISTURBANCE OF PEACE — CONSTRUCTION-RIOTOUS CONDUCT.</p> <p>A city ordinance prescribing the punishment of “every person who shall on any street, sidewalk, alley, or public place, or in or upon any private house, building or premises, act in a noisy, rioto