An Act to provide for the construction, maintenance, and regulation of fish-ways in streams naturally frequented by salmon, shad, and other migratory fish. [Approved April 16, 1880; 1880, 121 (Ban. ed. 387).]

This act, which prescribes the duties of the fish commissioners as to fish-ways, etc., also makes it a misdemeanor to injure or destroy such fish-ways or take fish except by hook and

line within three hundred feet of such fishways, is given in full in the Political Code, after section 642.

An Act relating to fishing in the waters of this state.
[Approved April 23, 1880; 1880, 123 (Ban. ed. 388).]

This act was held unconstitutional: In re Ah Chong, 5 Pac. C. L. J. 451.

CHAPTER II.

OF OTHER AND MISCELLANEOUS OFFENSES.

638. Neglect or postponement out of regular order of telegraphic messages. SEO. 638. Every agent, operator, or employee of any telegraph office, who willfully refuses or neglects to send any message received at such office for transmission, or willfully postpones the same out of its order, or willfully refuses or neglects to deliver any message received by telegraph, is guilty of a misdemeanor. Nothing herein contained shall be construed to require any message to be received, transmitted, or delivered, unless the charges thereon have been paid or tendered, nor to require the sending, receiving, or delivery of any message counseling, aiding, abetting, or encouraging treason against the government of the United States or of this state, or other resistance to the lawful authority, or any message calculated to further any fraudulent plan or purpose, or to instigate or encourage the perpetration of any unlawful act, or to facilitate the escape of any criminal or person accused of crime. Stats. 1862, 289, sec. 4.

639. Agent, operator, or employee using information from messages.

SEC. 639. Every agent, operator, or employee of any telegraph office who in any way uses or appropriates any information derived by him from any private message passing through his hands, and addressed to any other person, or in any other manner acquired by him by reason of his trust as such agent, operator, or employee, or trades or speculates upon any such information so obtained, or in any manner turns, or attempts to turn, the same to his own account, profit, or advantage, is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison not exceeding five years, or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year, or by fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, or by both such fine and imprisonment. Stats. 1862, 289, sec. 3, modified.

640. Clandestinely learning the contents of a telegraphic message.

SEC. 640. Every person who, by means of any machine, instrument, or contrivance, or in any other manner, willfully and fraudulently reads or attempts to read any message, or to learn the contents thereof, whilst the same is being sent over any telegraph line, or willfully and fraudulently, or clandestinely, learns or attempts to learn the contents or meaning of any message, while the same is in any telegraph office, or is being received thereat or sent therefrom, or who uses or attempts to use, or communicates to others, any information so obtained, is punishable as provided in section six hundred and thirty-nine. 641. Bribing telegraphic operator.

SEC. 641. Every person who, by the payment or promise of any bribe, inducement, or reward, procures or attempts to procure any telegraph agent, operator, or employee to disclose any private message, or the contents, purport,

substance, or meaning thereof, or offers to any such agent, operator, or employee any bribe, compensation, or reward for the disclosure of any private information received by him by reason of his trust as such agent, operator, or employee, or uses or attempts to use any such information so obtained, is punishable as provided in section six hundred and thirty-nine.

Stats. 1862, 290, sec. 7, modified. The a misdemeanor to that of a felony:" Commisgrade of punishment provided in the three pre- sioners' note. ceding sections has been increased from that of

642. Collecting tolls, etc., at San Francisco, without authority of harbor commissioners.

SEO. 642. Every person who collects any toll, wharfage, or dockage, or lands, ships, or removes any property upon or from any portion of the water-front of San Francisco, or from or upon any of the wharves, piers, or landings under the control of the board of state harbor commissioners, without being by such board authorized so to do, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

Stats. 1864, 145, sec. 11.

643. Violations of the provisions of the chapter relating to police regulations of San Francisco harbor.

SEC. 643. Every person who violates any of the provisions of the laws of this state relating to sailor boarding-houses and shipping offices in San Francisco, or who receives any gratuity or reward other than as therein provided, for the performance of any services under a license issued pursuant to the provisions of such laws, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

Stats. 1870, 244.

644. Enticing seamen to desert.

SEO. 644. Every person who entices seamen to desert from any vessel lying in the waters of this state, and on board of which they have shipped for a term or voyage unexpired at the time of such enticement, is guilty of a misdemeanor. Stats. 1853, 186, sec. 1.

645. Harboring deserting seamen.

SEC. 645. Every person who harbors or secretes any seaman, knowing him to be shipped, and with a view to persuade or enable him to desert, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

Stats. 1853, 186, sec. 2.

646. Aiding apprentices to run away or harboring them.

SEC. 646. Every person who willfully and knowingly aids, assists, or encourages to run away, or who harbors or conceals any person bound or held to service or labor, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

Stats. 1858, 137, sec.

647. Vagrants.

Apprentices: Civ. Code, sec. 264.

SEC. 647. Every person (except a California Indian), without visible means of living, who has the physical ability to work, and who does not for the space of ten days seek employment, nor labor when employment is offered him; every healthy beggar who solicits alms as a business; every person who roams about from place to place without any lawful business; every idle or dissolute person, or associate of known thieves, who wanders about the streets at late or unusual hours of the night, or who lodges in any barn, shed, shop, outhouse, vessel, or place other than such as is kept for lodging purposes, without the permission of the owner or party entitled to the possession thereof; every lewd and dissolute person, who lives in and about houses of ill-fame, and every common pros

titute and common drunkard—is a vagrant, and punishable by imprisonment in

the county jail not exceeding ninety days.

Stats. 1863, 770, sec. 1.

648. Issuing or circulating paper money.

SEC. 648. Every person who makes, issues, or puts in circulation any bill, check, ticket, certificate, promissory note, or the paper of any bank, to circulate as money, except as authorized by the laws of the United States, for the first offense is guilty of a misdemeanor, and for each and every subsequent offense is guilty of felony.

Stats. 1855, 128, sec. 1, 2.

Compare also Civ. Code, sec. 356.

649. Officers of fire department issuing false certificates of exemption.

SEC. 649. Every officer of a fire department who willfully issues or causes to be issued any certificate of exemption to a person not entitled thereto is guilty of a misdemeanor.

Stats. 1864, 257, sec. 7.

650. Sending letters threatening to expose another.

SEC. 650. Every person who knowingly and willfully sends or delivers to another any letter or writing, whether subscribed or not, threatening to accuse him or another of a crime, or to expose or publish any of his failings or infirmities, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

"This is founded upon part of section 110 of the crimes and punishment act: Stats. 1850, 229. The portion of that section relating to

sending threatening letters is incorporated in section 523, ante, chapter 7, relating to extortion:" Commissioners' note.

651. Requiring wards or apprentices to work more than eight hours.

SEC. 651. Every person having a minor child under his control, either as a ward or an apprentice, who, except in vinicultural or horticultural pursuits, or in domestic or household occupations, requires such child to labor more than eight hours in any one day, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

Stats. 1868, 63.

An Act to protect the wages of labor and the salaries and fees of subordinate officers.
[Approved April 1, 1872; 1871–2, 951.]

Employer taking wages of laborer.

SECTION 1. Every person who employs laborers upon the public works, and who takes, keeps, or receives any part or portion of the wages due to such laborers from the state or municipal corporation for which such work is done, is guilty of a felony.

Officer taking salary or fees of subordinate.

SEC. 2. Every officer of the state, or any county, city, or township therein, who keeps or retains any part or portion of the salary or fees allowed by law to his deputy, clerk, or subordinate officer, is guilty of a felony.

SEC. 3. This act shall be in force from and after its passage.

652. Officer or member of national guard failing to attend parade, obey orders, or discharge duty.

SEC. 652. Every commissioned officer of the national guard who willfully fails to attend any parade or encampment, and every member of the national guard who neglects or refuses to obey the lawful command of his superior on any day of parade or encampment, or to perform such military duty as may be lawfully required of him, is punishable by a fine of not less than five nor more than one hundred dollars.

Disobeying orders: Sec. 1930, Pol. Code.

Parades and drills: Secs. 2018-2030.

653. Member of national guard failing to attend parade, etc., when notified.

SEO. 653. Every member of the national guard who, when duly notified, fails to appear at a parade, or who disobeys any lawful order, or who uses disrespect

ful language towards his superior, or who commits any act of insubordination, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

654. Upbraiding, insulting, or abusing public school-teacher.

SEC. 654. Every parent, guardian, or other person who upbraids, insults, or abuses any teacher of the public schools, in the presence or hearing of a pupil thereof, is guilty of a misdemeanor. [New section, approved March 30, 1874; Amendments 1873-4, 435; took effect July 1, 1874.]

This new section has the same number as the first section in the next title.

TITLE XVI.

GENERAL PROVISIONS.

654. Acts made punishable by different provisions of this code.

SEC. 654. An act or omission which is made punishable in different ways by different provisions of this code may be punished under either of such provisions, but in no case can it be punished under more than one; an acquittal or conviction and sentence under either one bars a prosecution for the same act or omission under any other. In the cases specified in sections six hundred and forty-eight, six hundred and sixty-seven, and six hundred and sixty-eight, the punishments therein prescribed must be substituted for those prescribed for a first offense, if the previous conviction is charged in the indictment and found by the jury.

Increased punishment: Secs. 666, note, 667, note.

Once in jeopardy: Sec. 687, note.

655. Acts punishable under foreign law.

SEC. 655. An act or omission declared punishable by this code is not less so because it is also punishable under the laws of another state, government, or country, unless the contrary is expressly declared.

656. Foreign conviction or acquittal.

SEC. 656. Whenever on the trial of an accused person it appears that upon a criminal prosecution under the laws of another state, government, or country, founded upon the act or omission in respect to which he is on trial, he has been acquitted or convicted, it is a sufficient defense.

Foreign conviction or acquittal: See also sec. 668.

"This section is intended to apply in cases where the foreign acquittal or conviction took place in respect to the particular act or omis sion charged against the accused upon the trial

657. Contempts, how punishable.

in this state, and is not restricted to cases
where the accused was tried abroad under the
same charge:" Commissioners' note.

Once in jeopardy: Sec. 687, note.
Jurisdiction of crimes: Sec. 777, note.

SEC. 657. A criminal act is not the less punishable as a crime because it is also declared to be punishable as a contempt.

Criminal contempts: See sec. 166.

658. Mitigation of punishment in certain cases.

SEC. 658. When it appears, at the time of passing sentence upon a person convicted upon indictment, that such person has already paid a fine or suffered an imprisonment for the act of which he stands convicted, under an order adjudging it a contempt, the court authorized to pass sentence may mitigate the punishment to be imposed, in its discretion.

659. Aiding in misdemeanor.

SEC. 659. Whenever an act is declared a misdemeanor, and no punishment for counseling or aiding in the commission of such act is expressly prescribed by law, every person who counsels or aids another in the commission of such act is guilty of a misdemeanor.

Accessaries defined: Sec. 32.

660. Sending letters, when deemed complete.

Accessaries, how punished: Sec. 33.

SEC. 660. In the various cases in which the sending of a letter is made criminal by this code, the offense is deemed complete from the time when such letter is deposited in any post-office, or any other place, or delivered to any person with intent that it shall be forwarded.

sex by putting the letter into the post-office there with intent that it should be delivered to the prosecutor elsewhere. Had it never been delivered the defendant's offense would have been the same:" See 2 Whart. Crim. L., 8th ed., sec. 1666 a.

Extortion: Sec. 518, note. Threatening letters.-Sending with intent to extort money: Sec. 523. In the case of Rex v. Williams, 2 Camp. 506, where the indictment was for sending a libelous letter, the court said: "There was a sufficient publication in Middle661. Removal from office for violation or neglect of official duty by public officers. SEC. 661. In addition to the penalty affixed by express terms, to every neglect or violation of official duty on the part of public officers, state, county, city, or township, where it is not so expressly provided, they may, in the discretion of the court, be removed from office.

662. Omission to perform duty, when punishable.

SEC. 662. No person is punishable for an omission to perform an act where such act has been performed by another person acting in his behalf and competent by law to perform it.

Indictable omissions: Sec. 26, in note.

663. Attempts to commit crimes, when punishable.

SEC. 663. Any person may be convicted of an attempt to commit a crime, although it appears on the trial that the crime intended or attempted was perpetrated by such person in pursuance of such attempt, unless the court, in its discretion, discharges the jury and directs such person to be tried for such crime. 664. Attempts to commit crimes, how punishable.

SEC. 664. Every person who attempts to commit any crime, but fails or is prevented or intercepted in the perpetration thereof, is punishable, where no provision is made by law for the punishment of such attempts, as follows:

1. If the offense so attempted is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for five years or more, or by imprisonment in a county jail, the person guilty of such attempt is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison, or in a county jail, as the case may be, for a term not exceeding one half the longest term of imprisonment prescribed upon a conviction of the offense so attempted; 2. If the offense so attempted is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for any term less than five years, the person guilty of such attempt is punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year;

3. If the offense so attempted is punishable by a fine, the offender convicted of such attempt is punishable by a fine not exceeding one half the largest fine which may be imposed upon a conviction of the offense so attempted;

4. If the offense so attempted is punishable by imprisonment and by a fine, the offender convicted of such attempt may be punished by both imprisonment and fine, not exceeding one half the longest term of imprisonment and one