Matter of Application of Parra

Petitioner was arrested, on March 14, 1914, in Solano County for engaging in the vocation of fishing for profit in the public waters of this state, to wit, in the straits of Carquinez, in said county, without having first obtained a license therefor as required by the act of the legislature approved March 13, 1909 (Stats. 1909, p. 302), and the act approved March 16, 1913 (Stats. 1913, p. 985), being an act amendatory of section 3 of the said act of March 13, 1909, “by spreading out in said waters, and placing therein, a certain net known as a salmon net for the purpose of taking and catching salmon from the said waters.”

The sufficiency of the complaint, or warrant of arrest, is not disputed. The claim of petitioner is “that he has the right to engage in the vocation of fishing for profit (or for pleasure) without the payment of any license therefor, and that this right is secured to him by virtue of the provisions of section 25 of article I of the constitution of the state.” This section was adopted in 1910 and reads as follows:

This section must be read in connection with section 25% of article IV, adopted in 1902, for the two sections do not in anywise conflict with each…