In Re Hoffman

Habeas corpus. The city of Los Angeles passed an ordinance, No. 13,171 (new series), regulating the sale of milk and cream. The ordinance contained many regulatory provisions making for hygienic conditions which are not necessary here to consider, for the petitioner was charged with and convicted of a violation of a single section of the ordinance. That section is number 9 and fixes the standard of milk sold in the city. It does this in the following language :—

Against the validity of this section petitioner advances several arguments.

1. He insists that the section is void because its provisions are vague, uncertain, and contradictory. In this his argument. is that the required standard is 87.5 per centum water. 12.5 per centum milk solids, and 3.5 per centum butter fat, or a total of 103.5 per centum of ingredients, which, as is very justly argued, is a physical impossibility, since the component parts of a single article cannot constitute more than 100 per centum, else the whole would be greater than all its parts. The answer to this, however, obviously is that the ordinance means that of the 12.5 per centum milk solids, at least 3.5 per centum shall be butter fat. So read,…