Crandall

The defendant was tried upon a charge of murder and convicted of manslaughter. He appeals from the judgment and from an order refusing a new trial.

The homicide was committed at Ballona, on a lagoon near the beach, between Santa Monica and Redondo, in the county of Los Angeles. The only defense urged was that the life of the deceased was taken by the defendant in necessary self-defense.

Some two weeks prior to the homicide defendant rented from Hoagland a cabin having but one room, not far from the ocean beach and near the cottage occupied by Hoagland and his partner, who were fishermen. Soon after William White and Bowman—the deceased—joined Crandall at his request, and occupied the cabin with him. On the Sunday preceding the homicide they were joined by Mrs. Crandall, Mrs. Bowman, wife of deceased, and Maud Kelson, the mistress o£ White. The parties spent Sunday night at the cabin drinking. During the night *131 a quarrel arose between Maud Nelson and Mrs. Crandall, into which Bowman and defendant were drawn. According to the testimony of the defendant and his wife, Maud Nelson asserted that defendant had made improper proposals to Mrs. Bowman, and, although Mrs. Bowman…

I concur in the judgment and in the opinion of Mr. Justice Van Dyke, except that I do not agree that questions irrelevant to the issues in a case, asked for the purpose of discrediting the witness, can never, in the discretion of the trial judge, be asked of a witness. It is said that sections 3051 and 3053 of the Code of Civil Procedure prohibit such evidence. In express terms these sections certainly do not. It is stated that a witness may be impeached: 1. By contradictory evidence; 3. By evidence that his general reputation for honesty and integrity is bad; and 3. By proving inconsistent statements.

Other modes of impeachment are not expressly prohibited, and ever since the existence of the statute other modes have been freely resorted to. Witnesses are constantly cross-examined as to their bias, or their interest in the case, their relationship to the parties, and also as to their occupation and position in the community; also as to what persons they have conversed with about the case; whether they have been paid to attend court, et cetera. These are all matters of impeachment, and none of them fall within the modes specified in the statute. The statute has, in fact, never…