State ex rel. Calderwood v. Schomber

Citations

• 23 Wash. 573
• 63 P. 221
• 1900 Wash. LEXIS 391

Syllabus

<p>CRIMINAL LAW-PROSECUTIONS BEFORE JUSTICES OF PEACE — VENUE -CONSTRUCTION OF STATUTE.</p> <p>The act of March 7, 1899, [Laws 1899, p. 53), providing that “all actions commenced before a justice of the peace shall be brought in the justice court of the precinct in which one or more of the defendants reside,” must be construed as applying only to civil actions, since such construction harmonizes with the existing legislation on the suDject of civil actions, and avoids any destruction of the uniformity governing trials under our system of criminal procedure; and, so construed, one chargeable with an offense cognizable by a justice of the peace, may, under the provisions of Bal. Code, § 4684, making a justice’s territorial jurisdiction co-extensive with his county, be prosecuted before any'justice in the county.</p>