CONTRACTS (Continued). 27. NOTICE POSSESSION OF PROPERTY FINDINGS.-Where vendees of real property, who had taken possession of and made improvements upon the property were thereafter temporarily absent therefrom, it is for the trial court to determine whether the possession was of such character as to give notice of the rights of the vendees or put others upon inquiry with reference thereto, and to find the ultimate fact of notice in an action to foreclose a mortgage which involves the question of priorities as between the mortgagee and the vendees of the property.—Id. 28. UNCERTAINTY-CONSTRUCTION INTENT. The law does not favor the lease against the destruction of contracts because of uncertainty; and it will, if feasible, so construe agreements as to carry into effect the reasonable intention of the parties if that can be ascertained.-McIllmoil v. Frawley Motor Co., 546. 29. SUBJECT MATTER-DESCRIPTION EVIDENCE.-The description of the subject matter of an agreement may be indefinite, and yet if it is capable of being identified and rendered definite and certain by evidence aliunde the contract is enforceable.-Id. 30. UNCERTAINTY-VALIDITY OF CONTRACT.-A contract to purchase an automobile of a certain make is not void for uncertainty, although the particular model of that make is not specified, nor the price to be paid therefor, nor the time of payment, where the purchaser has the selection of one of several models, the price of each model being fixed and standard.-Id. 31. PAYMENT TIME.-Where one buys personal property at an agreed price he by implication of law agrees to pay the price; and if no time of payment is agreed upon the law fixes the time of delivery as the time of payment. If the time of delivery is postponed until the occurrence of some act to be done by the seller, the time of payment, if not otherwise provided for, will be postponed by implication of law to the time of such delivery. Id. 32. CONSTRUCTION-INTENT - EVIDENCE OF CIRCUMSTANCES.-For the purpose of arriving at the true intent of the parties, a contract is always to be construed in the light of the circumstances surrounding them at the time of its making.-Id. See Accord and Satisfaction, 3; Appeal, 26; Arbitration, 1, 2; CONVEYANCE. See Deeds and Deeds of Trust. CORONERS. See Evidence, 1. CORPORATIONS. PROFIT-SHARING SECURITIES-ILLEGAL INCREASE OF STOCK-MANDAMUS. On this application for a writ of mandamus to compel the state corporation commissioner to pass upon petitioner's application for approval of a plan for issuing profit-sharing securities, it is held that the scheme is one for increasing of the capital stock of the corporation without compliance with the laws relating to such increase of stock.-Apartment Bldg. Co. v. Daugherty, 521. See Appeal, 21; Dedication, 1; Promissory Notes, 3; Protection Districts, 1; Public Utilities, 2, 5. COSTS. See Attachment, 1; Divorce, 8; Irrigation Districts, 2. COUNTIES. RESIDENCE AND GARAGE FOR COUNTY PHYSICIAN POWER OF SUPERVISORS.-Under subdivision 7 of section 4041 of the Political Code authorizing boards of supervisors, among other things, to construct hospitals and almshouses and such other public buildings as may be necessary to carry out the work of county government, they have the power to construct a residence and garage at the county hospital for the county physician in charge thereof if in their judgment the proper management and control of the hospital requires such construction.-Forward v. County of San Diego, 202. COURTS. 1. RECORDS - CORRECTION. - Courts have inherent power over their records, and may at all times correct mere clerical errors made by the clerk in entering an order in the minutes, so that it may truly state what was the order of the court, by setting forth all its terms; and any correction or amendment of the record is conclusively presumed to have been properly made, when such record is collaterally drawn in question, or is used as evidence, or relied upon in support of any other proceeding.-Halpern v. Superior Court, 384. 2. APPEAL POWER TO AMEND RECORD.-The right of a lower court to amend its record to conform to the truth is not suspended or impeded by an appeal, where the amendment does not affect any substantial rights of the appellant, and consists of the correction of a clerical mistake appearing upon the face of the record. The same rule should apply where the lower court has found that the COURTS (Continued). record discloses that the entry on the minutes does not correctly give what was the order of the court.-Id. 3. NEW TRIAL AMENDMENT OF ORDER GRANTING CERTIORARI.-Where the superior court made an order purporting to amend, nunc pro tunc, its previous order granting a new trial by adding to it the ground of insufficiency of the evidence to justify the verdict, the contention that the omission does not appear from the record, and that the amendment, in fact, amounted to the correction of a judicial error affecting the substantial rights of the appellant because it changed the effect of the order granting the new trial and was made after appellant had taken an appeal, cannot be maintained in a proceeding in certiorari.—Id. 4. LACK OF NOTICE JURISDICTION. - The contention by the petitioner that as he had no notice, by motion or otherwise, of the ex parte application, and of the action of the trial court in amending the order granting the new trial, such action of the court was in excess of jurisdiction, cannot be maintained in a proceeding in certiorari, but relief should have been applied for in the trial court and if denied an appeal taken.-Id. See Arbitration, 1; Declaratory Relief, 1, 2; Juvenile Court. CRIMINAL LAW. 1. MURDER-PREMEDITATION-TIME.-To constitute murder in the first degree there need be no appreciable space of time between the intention to kill and the act of killing. They may be as instantaneous as successive thoughts of the mind. It is only neces sary that the act of killing be preceded by a concurrence of will, deliberation, and premeditation, on the part of the slayer, and if such is the case, the killing is murder of the first degree, no matter how rapidly these acts of the mind succeed each other, or how quickly they may be followed by the act of killing.-People v. Donnelly, 57. 2. INSTRUCTIONS INTENT. In a prosecution for murder there is no error in refusing to give an instruction on the subject of intent where the subject matter was fully covered by other portions of the charge and the court very carefully instructed the jury on every phase of murder, special attention being given to the degree of deliberation and premeditation necessary to constitute murder in the first degree.-Id. 3. SELF-DEFENSE. In a prosecution for murder there is no error in refusing an instruction on the question of self-defense where the proposed instruction covers much not included in the testimony and is against law in certain particulars, the court having elsewhere stated the law in relation to self-defense correctly and having fully covered the subject.-Id. CRIMINAL LAW (Continued). 4. MURDER -SUFFICIENCY OF EVIDENCE-ABSENCE OF ERROR.-In this prosecution for murder, the verdict calling for the death penalty is amply supported by the evidence and the record fails to disclose any error demanding consideration on appeal.-People v. Marui, 174. 5. PLEADING SUFFICIENCY OF INFORMATION-MANNER OF OBJECTION. Under sections 1004 and 1012 of the Penal Code, the objection that an indictment or information does not substantially conform to the requirements of sections 950, 951 and 952 of the Penal Code is one which must be taken by demurrer or else it is waived, while the objection that the facts stated do not constitute a public offense is not waived by failure to demur, but must be taken at the trial under a plea of not guilty or after the trial in arrest of the judgment.-People v. Welton, 236. 6. VIOLATION OF SYNDICALISM ACT PRINTING AND CIRCULATING LITERATURE SPECIFICATION-INFORMATION-WAIVER.-In a prosecution for printing and circulating literature advocating criminal syndicalism, the failure of the information to particularly describe the literature is not a defect of substance but of form which should be urged upon demurrer, and where not done the objection is waived under the express provisions of sections 1004, 1012 and 1185 of the Penal Code, and cannot be raised for the first time upon motion in arrest of judgment.—Id. 7. EVIDENCE-USE OF LITERATURE ON TRIAL-EFFECT OF.-Where in such prosecution the district attorney in his opening statement announced that the particular books, papers, pamphlets, documents and written and printed matter advocating and advising criminal syndicalism and referred to in the information were taken from the headquarters of the defendants at the time of their arrest, and such literature was introduced in evidence and identified without objection on the part of the defendants, and later in the trial they read into the record extensive excerpts therefrom, no prejudice was suffered by the failure of the information to particularly describe the same.-Id. 8. ATTEMPT TO COMMIT ROBBERY-TERM OF SENTENCE.-Under the provisions of sections 664 and 671 of the Penal Code, the trial court has authority to sentence a defendant for an attempt to commit robbery for any term of years which in its opinion will be a just and fair punishment. In re Morek, 352. 9. COMMITMENT TO INDUSTRIAL FARM FOR WOMEN RECORDS OF PoLICE COURT-SILENCE AS TO AGE EFFECT OF.-A woman committed by a police court to the Industrial Farm for Women is not entitled to release on habeas corpus upon the ground that it nowhere appears upon the court records that she was over the age of CRIMINAL LAW (Continued). eighteen years, since jurisdiction of an inferior court may be shown by evidence dehors the record. In re Spagnoli, 353. 10. OFFENSE DEFINITION.-An offense which may be the subject of criminal procedure is an act committed, or omitted, in violation of public law, either forbidding or commanding it. In re McLain, 376. 11. MOTOR VEHICLE ACT-REGULATION OF SPEED UNCONSTITUTIONAL DELEGATION OF POWER OF LEGISLATION. The provision of section 22a of the Motor Vehicle Act (Stats. 1919, pp. 220, 221) attempting to confer power upon the California Highway Commission to establish a maximum rate of speed, less than the rate established by law, over any bridge, etc., state highway, or portion thereof, is an unconstitutional delegation of power by the legislature and void; and the detention of one for a violation of such a regulation is unlawful for this reason, as well as because the statute fixes no penalty for such violation.-Id. 12. ENFORCEMENT OF LAW-DELEGATION OF POWER.-For the proper enforcement of its laws, the legislature may delegate a power to an officer, board, or commission to determine some fact or state of things upon which the law makes, or intends to make, its own action depend; but in such cases the distinction between the legislative and administrative function must be recognized and enforced and the distinction is fundamental. Where the charge is of crime it must have clear legislative basis.-Id. 13. ROBBERY INDETERMINATE SENTENCE - VALIDITY OF.-An indeter minate sentence for robbery is, in effect, for the maximum term provided by law, for life imprisonment, and is not void for uncertainty. In re Jordan, 416. 14. INTOXICATING LIQUORS · WRIGHT Aст JUDGMENT.-A judgment upon a conviction under the Wright Act that the defendant "pay a fine of $500 or be confined in the City Jail for the period of six months upon his failure to pay said fine," is one imposing a sentence of six months, giving the party convicted the opportunity of escaping such punishment by the payment of a fine, and is valid.—In re Frankovitch, 440. 15. FALSE PRETENSES EVIDENCE-VARIANCE. In a prosecution for obtaining money by false pretenses based upon the false representation, among others, that an oil derrick was being erected upon land being sold to the prosecutrix, the jury were entitled to infer from the fact that there was no visible evidence of the construction of a derrick or the derrick itself a month after the representations were made that no such derrick was ever under process of construction or was actually erected; nor should the judgment of conviction be reversed because of the alleged variance between the allegations of the information that the defendant represented that an oil well derrick was being constructed, that is, |