In Re Flannery

The petitioner, the mother of two minor children, Charles Harris Flannery and Martha A. Flannery, presented a petition for the writ of habeas corpus for the purpose of testing the legality of the detention of the children mentioned. Petitioner appeared before the superior court on October 16, 1928, in response to an order to show cause why the custody of the children should not be given to the father. At that time, without objection on the part of counsel for petitioner the court made an order as follows: “The matter will be referred to Mrs. Maxwell, the referee, for her investigation and report. ’ ’ The Mrs. Maxwell mentioned is Mary Maxwell, the referee of the probation department of Los Angeles County. When the matter came to her attention she was unable to handle it herself and asked Mrs. Kara Root, one of her deputies, to make an investigation of the case. Mrs. Root asked the petitioner and her witnesses to come to her office and at a different time requested the father and his witnesses to appear before her. The parties and their witnesses were interviewed independently of each other. Mrs. Maxwell was present when Mrs. Root examined some of the witnesses, but to her…