Francis

This is an original application for a writ of prohibition directed to the superior court for Kern County, and the Honorable Howard A. Peairs, Judge, commanding and directing them to desist from hearing a motion to increase the amount of an undertaking on attachment which had been given in an action wherein the petitioner here is the plaintiff and L. W. Lowell and others are the defendants. To the alternative writ of prohibition, issued out of this court, respondents have made a return which petitioner has not seen fit to traverse.

The petition and the return thereto disclose the following facts: Petitioner commenced an action against L. W. Lowell and others to recover $11,250, alleged to be due on a contract. Petitioner, as the plaintiff in that action, caused an affidavit for attachment to be filed in the superior court; at the same time the clerk of that court fixed the amount of the undertaking on attachment at $500, as he was authorized to do by section 539 of the Code of Civil Procedure, whereby it is provided that the clerk, before issuing the writ, shall require an undertaking on the part of the plaintiff in a sum not less than $200 and not exceeding the amount claimed by…