In Re Cowan

On the thirteenth day of September, 1933, the petitioner was convicted and sentenced to six months’ imprisonment, in the Justice’s Court of the City of Sacramento, in the County of Sacramento, for an alleged violation of section 270 of the Penal Code, relative to providing for one’s minor children. The argument in this case has taken a wide field, and in the discussion, the second paragraph of section 270 of the Penal Code has been challenged as being unconstitutional. By reason of what we are about to say this question need not be considered.

The judgment of the justice’s court, so far as relevant here, is in the following words and figures:

This judgment was affirmed on appeal, and the judgment of affirmance is in precisely the same words, except that the word “his” is inserted before the word “minor”.

While the provisions of section 270 of the Penal Code, if constitutional, make the failure to provide for one’s minor children prima facie proof that such failure is wilful and without lawful excuse, it does not make the mere fact of failure to provide for minor children a crime in and of itself. The judgment which acts as the commitment must show that the failure so to provide…