Matter of Application of Smith

Petitioner was convicted of the offense of misdemeanor for violating the speed limit prescribed by ordinance of the city of Merced for automobiles, -and was sentenced to pay a fine of twenty dollars and if not paid that he be imprisoned in the county jail until said “fine be duly satisfied, in proportion to one day’s imprisonment for every two dollars of the fine.” Failing to pay his fine, the petitioner was committed to the sheriff of the county and it is from such commitment he seeks to be discharged.

It was charged in the complaint “that said J. C. Smith, ón or about the fourth day of September, A. D. 1914, at Merced City, in the county of Merced, state of California, did willfully and unlawfully drive an automobile over the streets of City at a greater rate of speed than twelve miles an hour. ’ ’

Merced is a city of the sixth class with -a population of about three thousand persons. For the purposes of the case, it was conceded at the hearing that at the time of his arrest petitioner was not exceeding the speed limit prescribed by the state in the section of Merced where he was then traveling, but it does not appear upon what part of the street or in what part of the city he…