In Re Stratham

In this proceeding it is duly shown that George U. Stratham is held in custody, pursuant to arrest and upon a complaint filed in the police court of the city of Los Angeles, charging him with the commission of a misdemeanor by willfully and unlawfully soliciting custom and patronage for the transportation of persons and baggage for hire in the Southern Pacific depot in said city and upon property used and occupied in conjunction with said depot, contrary to the provisions of an ordinance of the city.

The ordinance in question is No. 39551, new series, of the city of Los Angeles. This ordinance was passed by the city council on November 17, 1919, approved on the twenty-first day of November, 1919, and duly published on the twenty-fifth day of November, 1919. It was adopted as an emergency ordinance and as such, by its terms, became effective on the date of its publication, notwithstanding the referendum provisions of the city charter. The previous ordinances of the city upon the same subject had been expressly repealed by an ordinance approved on the twenty-third day of September, 1919, and from that time until the adoption of Ordinance No. 39551 there was no ordinance of the city…