Ex Parte Dolan

This is an application for a writ of habeas corpus, petitioner being confined in the county jail of Santa Barbara county under a commitment for “disturbing the peace,” dated April 7, 1900, issued out of the justice’s court of the second township of Santa Barbara county. The boundaries of said township are coterminous with the corporate limits of the city of Santa Barbara. It is contended upon the part of petitioner that the police court of the city of Santa Barbara has exclusive jurisdiction over the offense of which he has been convicted, and for that reason the judgment rendered in the justice’s court is absolutely void. The question thus presented demands an examination of various constitutional provisions.

A freeholders’ charter was adopted by the city .of Santa Barbara and took effect by its terms on the first Monday of January, 1900. By article VI of this charter there was created a judicial department of that city vesting in the police court thereof exclusive jurisdiction of certain offenses, among others, breaches of the peace and all other misdemeanors punishable by fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment not to exceed six months, or by both such fine…