In Re Tom

Application by petitioner on habeas corpus for discharge from custody after plea of guilty and sentence of imprisonment. Petitioner was informed against in the superior court under the provisions of section 288 of the Penal Code, which denounces as a crime the committing of certain lewd and lascivious acts with or upon a child under the age of fourteen years.

The contention made on behalf of petitioner is that the charge should have been heard in and punishment determined by the juvenile department of the superior court, and not by the regular criminal trial department, in which it was heard and considered, for the alleged reason that petitioner at the time of the filing of the information against him was under the age of eighteen years.

The act of the legislature, commonly called the juvenile court law (Stats. 1911, p. 659), provides that whenever it is suggested in a court other than a superior court that a person against whom a crime is charged is under the age of eighteen years, it shall be the duty of the magistrate to certify the ease to the juvenile court for further proceedings. It appears by the petition in this ease that petitioner was first charged in a justice’s…