Turner

By the Court.

At a term of the district court of the eighth judicial district for the county of Yuba, held on the Bli day of June last, the following order was made: “ Ordered, that Stephen J. Field be imprisoned forty-eight “ hours and fined five hundred dollars for contempt of court.” An application is now made for a mandamus to vacate this *153 order, “ or for an order perpetually staying the execution of " said order, or for such other or further order as may be just.” Notice of the application has been duly given, and copies of the papers upon which it is founded, served.

We have determined, in the case of Mulford, that this court has the power to issue the writ of mandamus to a district court. The point for our present consideration, therefore, is whether this case be a proper one for the exercise of that power. The order now under review shows upon its face that it was intended as an adjudication for a contempt, and this raises the question of the extent of the power of punishment for contempt, and the rules which should be observed in enforcing it.

By the common law every court has, while engaged in the performance of its lawful functions, as an incident to its judicial…