Baker v. Municipal Court

JOANNE L. BAKER et al., Petitioners, v. THE MUNICIPAL COURT FOR THE EAST LOS ANGELES JUDICIAL DISTRICT OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY et al., Respondents; THE PEOPLE, Real Party in Interest.

(Opinion by Wright, C. J., with Peters, Tobriner, Mosk and Sullivan, JJ., concurring. Separate dissenting opinion by Burke, J., with McComb, J., concurring.)

COUNSEL

Mervyn L. Hecht and Roger Jon Diamond for Petitioners.

John D. Maharg, County Counsel, and Edward H. Gaylord, Assistant County Counsel, for Respondents.

No appearance for Real Party in Interest. [5 Cal. 3d 670]

OPINION OF THE COURT

Memorandum

WRIGHT, C. J.

Petitioners, the operators of several Los Angeles County bookstores, are charged with violating Los Angeles County Ordinance 5860, section 321, which prohibits the operation of a bookstore without securing a license from the Los Angeles County Welfare Commission. Petitioners seek writs of prohibition to restrain the respondent courts from taking further proceedings in criminal actions charging them with violations of the ordinance. Since the ordinance is unconstitutional on its face (Perrine v. Municipal Court, ante, p. 656 [97 Cal. Rptr. 320, 488 P.2d 648]) the respondent courts lack jurisdiction of the criminal proceedings against petitioners.

Let peremptory writs of prohibition issue as prayed for.

Peters, J., Tobriner, J., Mosk, J., and Sullivan, J., concurred.

BURKE, J.

I dissent. For the reasons stated in my dissenting opinion in Perrine v. Municipal Court, ante, p. 656 [97 Cal. Rptr. 320, 488 P.2d 648], it is my view that the ordinance in question is valid as applied to applicant licensees who have suffered prior convictions for obscenity offenses.

McComb, J., concurred.