In Re Miller

The petitioner was charged in the justice court of Bridgeport township, county of Mono, with misdemeanor in having commenced and carried on within said county “the business of raising, grazing, herding and pasturing cattle without having taken out or procured a license therefor, as required by an ordinance of the board of supervisors of said county. ’ ’

The said ordinance requires on the part of everyone engaged in such business the payment to the tax collector of the sum of seven cents for each cow, heifer, bull or bullock owned by, in the- possession or under the control of such person and used in such business in Mono county.

It is claimed that petitioner is entitled to his discharge for two reasons: First, the ordinance does not provide that the act complained of shall be a crime; and secondly, the ordinance is “unreasonable, unconstitutional and void, and was not passed for the purpose of regulating the business therein referred to, but was passed solely for the purpose of raising revenue.”

The ordinance does indeed omit to denounce as a crime the failure to secure said license, but petitioner was amenable to prosecution by virtue of section 435 of the Penal Code,…