In Re McDonald

Petitioner is held by the sheriff of San Mateo County on a warrant issued by the city court of the city of San Bruno. He seeks to be released on habeas corpus, claiming that the complaint upon which the warrant was issued fails to state a public offense.

The complaint charged a violation of section 337a of the Penal Code, the facts being alleged as follows: “That on the 22nd day of August, A. D. 1927, at Tanforan in said county the San Francisco Jockey Club, an association, held a horse-race on a race-track controlled and operated by it for that purpose at Tanforan, in said county of San Mateo and state of California, to test the speed of horses which might be and which were regularly entered in said race, and invited the owners of horses to enter the same in said race, and offered a purse of not less than five hundred dollars ($500) and as much more as the judge or judges presiding at said race, after ‘the same had been run, should conclude, determine and fix for the winners in said race, to be distributed as follows, to-wit: seventy (70%) per cent of said purse to the owner of the horse finishing first in said race; twenty (20%) per cent to the owner of the horse finishing…