Wilson

In a certain action for divorce brought against petitioner, William I. Wilson, by his wife, in the superior court of Alameda County, the said court on February 1, 1887, made an- order requiring petitioner to pay plaintiff therein two hundred dollars per month alimony and eight hundred dollars counsel fees. On April 25, 1887, the said court committed petitioner to the custody of the sheriff until said money should be paid; and since that date petitioner has been in jail under said orders. The petition states that on December 8, 1887, the petitioner, after due notice, applied to the respondent, Hon. *581 Noble Hamilton, a judge of the superior court of said county, to be discharged under sections 1143 et seq. of the Code of Civil Procedure; and that the respondent refused and still refuses to allow petitioner “to be examined or to take the oath prescribed by, or in any manner to receive any of the benefits or privileges provided for by, said sections of said code.”

The answer of respondent first sets forth that petitioner “was not confined in jail on an execution issued on a judgment rendered in a civil action”; that he was so confined by virtue of “ a commitment for contempt of…