City of Seattle v. Smyth

Eespondents were charged with the violation of an ordinance of the city of Seattle, which makes it unlawful for any contractor or suh-contractor upon any of the public works of the city to require or permit any day laborer or mechanic to work more than eight hours in any one calendar day. It is charged in the complaint that the respondents “did wilfully and unlawfully permit one John Doe to work and labor . . . more than eight *329hours in one calendar day.” The superior court sustained a demurrer to the complaint, and the city has appealed.

Statutes and ordinances similar in character have been…