Ex parte Abbott

Petitioner was duly convicted in the superior court of Los Angeles of a contempt of its authority, and sentenced to pay a fine of four hundred dollars, and in default of payment, to be imprisoned in satisfaction of the fine one day for every two dollars of the fine unpaid. In pursuance of said judgment, he has been committed to and is imprisoned in the county jail. He asks to be discharged, upon the ground that since the recent amendment of section 1205 of the Penal Code (Stats. 1891, p. 52),the superior courts have no power in contempt cases to imprison the defendant in satisfaction of a…