Ex Parte Childs

This application for a writ of habeas corpus is based on the ground that the complaint on which Childs was convicted and sentenced to a term in jail on a plea of guilty fails to state a public offense.

The complaint in question charges “that on the seventh day of April, .1905, near Burbank (outside the limits of incorporated cities and towns), and in the county of Los Angeles, state of California, a misdemeanor was committed by William Childs, who at the time and place last aforesaid, did willfully and unlawfully engage in, conduct and carry on a retail establishment, by then and there selling, serving and giving away spirituous, vinous, malt and mixed liquors in quantities less than one fifth of a gallon, and by the drink and glass, and to be drunk upon the premises where sold, without first having secured a license so to do, contrary to the ordinance of the county of Los Angeles entitled ‘Ordinance imposing licenses and fixing rates thereof in the county of Los Angeles, state of California,’ as passed, adopted and approved by the board of supervisors of said Los Angeles county on the twentieth day of January, 1903, and particularly sections one, three and sixteen of said…