Zorn, In re

• Decision Date: 21 May 1963
• Docket Number: Cr. 7310
• Citation: 381 P.2d 635,30 Cal.Rptr. 811,59 Cal.2d 650
• Court: California Supreme Court
• Parties: , 381 P.2d 635 In re Raymond G. ZORN on Habeas Corpus.

Page 811

30 Cal.Rptr. 811

59 Cal.2d 650, 381 P.2d 635

In re Raymond G. ZORN on Habeas Corpus.

Cr. 7310.

Supreme Court of California, In Bank.

May 21, 1963.

Earl Klein, Beverly Hills, under appointment by the Supreme Court, for petitioner.

Roger Arnebergh, City Atty., Philip E. Grey, Asst. City Atty., and Charles W. Sullivan, Deputy City Atty., Los Angeles, for respondent.

McCOMB, Justice.

Petitioner (hereinafter referred to as 'defendant') seeks a writ of habeas corpus claiming that he is being illegally restrained of his liberty by the Chief of Police of the City of Los Angeles.

Facts: Defendant entered a plea of guilty on July 16, 1962, to violating section 41.27(a) of the Los Angeles Municipal Code, ^* in that he did wilfully and unlawfully appear in a state of intoxication in a public place open to public view.

This is the sole question necessary for us to determine: Has the state adopted a general scheme for the regulation of the criminal aspects of being intoxicated in a public place?

Yes. A municipal ordinance is invalid if it attempts to impose additional requirements in a field that has been preempted by the general law. (In re Koehne, 59 A.C. , 30 Cal.Rptr. 809, 381 P.2d 633; In re Moss, 58 Cal.2d 117, 118(2), 23 Cal.Rptr. 361, 373 P.2d 425.)

Whenever the Legislature has seen fit to adopt a general scheme for the regulation of a particular subject, the entire control over whatever phases of the subject are covered by state legislation ceases as far as local legislation is concerned. (In re Koehne, supra, at p. _ _ of 59 A.C., at p. 809 of 30 Cal.Rptr., at p. 633 of 381 P.2d; In re Moss, supra, 58 Cal.2d at p. 118(3), 23 Cal.Rptr. at p. 362, 373 P.2d at p. 426.)

In determining whether the Legislature intended to occupy a particular field to the exclusion of all local regulation, we may look to the 'whole purpose and scope of the legislative scheme' and are not required to find such an intent solely in the language used in the statute. (In re Koehne, supra, at p. _ _ of 59 A.C., at p. 809 of 30 Cal.Rptr., at p. 633 of 381 P.2d; In re Moss, supra, 58 Cal.2d at p. 118(4), 23 Cal.Rptr. at p. 362, 373 P.2d at p. 426.)

At the time of the commission of the alleged offense in the present case, section 647, subdivision (f), of the Penal Code provided that a person was guilty of a misdemeanor if he was 'found in any public place under the influence of intoxicating liquor, or any drug, or the combined influence of intoxicating liquor and any drug, in such a condition that he is unable to exercise care for his own safety or the safety of others, or by reason of his being under the influence of intoxicating liquor, or any drug, or the combined influence of intoxicating liquor and any drug, interferes with or obstructs or prevents the free use of any street, sidewalk or other public way.'

The language of section 647, subdivision (f), of the Penal Code shows that the state had occupied the field with regard to the criminal aspects of being intoxicated in a public place.

There is likewise no merit in the contention that since petitioner was drunk in a barber shop, it was not a public place, for the reason that 'public' has been defined as 'Common to all or many; general; open to common use,' and 'Open to common, or general use,...