In Re Wilcox

Petitioner, an employee of the Marengo Water Company, a California corporation engaged in distributing and supplying water to the inhabitants of the city of Alhambra, was,, on the 27th of October, 1908, arrested upon a complaint filed before a magistrate, charging him with a violation of an ordinance of said city enacted prior thereto, which ordinance, in so far as material in this case, provides:

Then follow various sections of the ordinance with reference to the manner in which the street shall be replaced in its original condition after excavation and of the times at which it shall be done and the right of the street superintendent, if not done promptly, to cause it to be done at the expense of the party making the excavation.

Section 7 provides that the street superintendent shall deduct from the deposit made for an excavation a sum equal to two and one-half (2y2) cents per square foot of surface of the excavation in macadamized streets, and one-fifth (%) of one cent for each square foot of surface of roads or alleys which are not paved or macadamized; and also to deduct the cost of any work done or repairs made by him from all deposits in his hands; and further, upon the…