In Re Rankin

From the petition filed in the above-entitled matter, it appears that the petitioner is confined in the state prison of the state of California at San Quentin, after conviction, upon a charge of attempt to commit the infamous crime against nature, under section 286 of the Penal Code. While the document is denominated, “A Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus and Certiorari,” it amounts to nothing more than a petition for a writ of habeas corpus.

[1] While the petition does not contain allegations of fact sufficient to warrant the issuance of such a writ, we are able to ascertain from its averments, and from the petitioner’s brief, filed herein, that the gravamen of the petitioner’s complaint is that the terms of said section 286 of the Penal Code are unintelligible, uncertain, ambiguous, and general, and that an information charging the commission of the crime in the words of the statute, or their equivalent, fails to state an indictable public offense, or any offense, in legally sufficient terms.

Defendant was prosecuted under section 286 of the Penal Code, which reads as follows: “Every person who is guilty of the infamous crime against nature, committed with mankind or with…