In Re Cowden

The petitioner was imprisoned and confined in the county jail of the city and county of San Francisco, on a commitment of the superior court of said city and county, entered on the eighth day of May, 1903, as for contempt of court. He petitions this court to be released and discharged from such imprisonment, on the ground that such imprisonment is illegal, and that said order of commitment was without the jurisdiction of the court making it, and was void.

It appears from the petition that on the first day of December, 1902, Nellie E. Cowden obtained a judgment and decree of divorce from the…