Chambers

The People have appealed from judgments for issuance of writs of prohibition restraining the municipal court (Oakland-Piedmont) from entertaining criminal proceedings against Cathy Chambers and Beverly Titus in one case and against Valerie Alma Littleton and Pamela Sheryl Gurske in the other case for allegedly violating Penal Code section 416 (refusal to disperse).

The superior court issued writs after respondents had in the municipal court demurred to the face of the criminal complaints against them. The circumstances surrounding their arrest and the attempted application of the statute by the police are not matters of record.

A writ of prohibition is a proper remedy to restrain a criminal prosecution, prior to trial, where the prosecution is based upon a law or ordinance invalid on its face. (Witkin, Cal. Criminal Procedure (1963) Habeas Corpus and Other Extraordinary Writs, § 776, p. 752.) A court may issue a writ of prohibition where (1) the trial court has determined that it has jurisdiction of the matter, (2) the defendant does not have *908 available a plain, speedy, and adequate remedy at law, and (3) the constitutionality of the questioned ordinance raises a…