In Re Sears

The petitioner seeks to obtain his discharge from custody by means of a writ of habeas corpus on the ground that the statute under which he was convicted of wilfully and fraudulently failing to pay the wages of an employee upon his discharge, is unconstitutional, and because the complaint fails to state a public offense.

The same matter was previously determined adversely to the petitioner upon a petition for a writ of certiorari. (Sears v. Superior Court, 133 Cal. App. 704 [ 24 Pac. (2d) 842 ].) The facts are more fully related in our opinion which was filed in that proceeding. The petitioner and William H. Warwick were jointly charged in a complaint which was filed in the Justice’s Court of Angels Township, Calaveras County, with violating the provisions of the act regulating the payment of wages by private employers. (Stats. 1919, p. 294, and amendments thereto; 2 Deering’s Gen. Laws of 1931, p. 2241,' Act 4743.) The complaint contained two counts. The first count charges that while the defendants were acting as officers of the Calaveras Gold Mining Company they did “employ two or more workers in and about the mining operations . . . without maintaining pay days, . . . and…