In Re Tom Wong

A purported complaint was filed in the Municipal Court of San Francisco against the petitioner; he was arrested and brought before the court; a trial was had and he was found guilty and sentenced to serve a term in the county jail. Later he applied to the superior court for a writ of habeas corpus and the writ was denied. Being dissatisfied he has applied to this court for a writ. The sheriff has made a return setting up a copy of the judgment of conviction as being his authority for holding the petitioner in his custody. By the stipulation of the. parties the return is allowed to stand as a traverse to the petition of the petitioner.

The petitioner claims (1) the complaint against him fails to state a cause of action; (2) that the judgment is void; and (3) that the process under which he is imprisoned is defective in a matter of substance.

The first part of the complaint is as follows: “Personally appears before me this 9th day of December A. D. 1931, J. P. O’Connor, who, on oath, makes complaint and deposes and says, that -on the 8th day of December A. D. 1931, and from said-- day of-A. D. 193—•, up to and on the-day of-A.. D. 193—■, in the city and county of San Francisco,…