Kaufman

On an information charging him with felony for violation of section 21 of the Motor Vehicle Act (Stats. 1915, p. 408), the defendant was tried, found guilty by the jury, and sentenced to pay a fine of one hundred dollars, or in default of the payment to be confined in the Alameda County jail for a period of one day for each two dollars of the fine imposed. ITis motion for a new trial, supported by affidavits regarding newly discovered evidence, was denied. On this appeal he contends the evidence was insufficient to sustain the conviction; that the court erred in limiting cross-examination of the complaining witness, and that the motion for a new trial should have been granted. Incidentally, he maintains that section 21 of the Vehicle Act should not be so strictly construed against one accused of felony as to make it applicable to the facts of this case, and that if it is to receive strict construction, it is violative of certain constitutional guaranties.

The constitutionality and construction of a statute are matters of law. Neither depends upon the facts of any particular case. If the legislative enactment is violative of no constitutional guaranty, it is necessarily applicable…