Matter of Application of Stephan

The petitioner was imprisoned on a charge of having violated the provisions of the act entitled, “An act to define personal property brokers and regulate their charges and business, ’ ’ enacted April 16, 1909, and amended April 21, 1911. (Stats. 1909, p. 969; Stats. 1911, p. 978.) He asks a release from custody on the claim that the law is unconstitutional.

Section 1 of the law provides that every person “engaged in the business of loaning or advancing money” on the secur ity of chattel mortgages or other contracts by which personal property is hypothecated as security for such loan and the…