Johnston

This case is here on appeal from the

judgment and the order denying defendant’s motion for a new trial. The complaint was filed in 1904. When the case came on for trial, October 19, 1905, the defendant claimed that the judge was disqualified under section 170 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which provides that no judge shall sit or act in any action or proceeding “when it appears from the affidavit or affidavits on file that either party cannot have a fair and impartial trial before any judge of a court of record about to try a case, by reason of the prejudice or bias of such judge. ’ ’ It has been held that under the above-quoted section the trial judge may pass upon the question of his own disqualification. (People v. Compton, 123 Cal. 405 , [ 56 Pac. 44 ].) We have no hesitation in saying that in all cases where the facts established by the affidavits. are such as to create in the mind of an honest litigant a sincere belief that he cannot have a fair and impartial trial before the judge in whose court the action is pending, and where the facts are such as to justify a reasonable man in such belief, the ends of justice would be subserved by calling in another judge. The judge…