Scott

The defendant was convicted of the crime of rape in having carnal intercourse with a female under the age of consent, and he has appealed from the judgment and the order denying his motion for a new trial.

The claim that he should have been allowed twenty peremptory challenges has been determined several times by the supreme court adversely to his contention. It is sufficient to refer to People v. Sullivan, 132 Cal. 94 , [ 64 Pac. 90 ], wherein, alluding to the earlier construction of the statute allowing only ten such challenges, it is said: ‘ ‘ The construction thus given to the section was made nearly twenty years ago; and as the legislature has not seen fit to make a change in the statute, we do not feel authorized to recede from the construction then given.”

The court was clearly right in denying defendant’s motion to strike out all of the testimony of the girl’s father as to the daughter’s age. In opposition to the ruling, it is claimed that he had no independent recollection on the subject, but testified only from a date on a slip of paper, which was copied from an entry in a Bible, which in turn was copied from an entry in the family Bible. Whether the witness should…