¶1In view of the recital from the bill of exceptions, above quoted by Mr. Justice Works, I am constrained to concur in the judgment. This is not a mere assertion or stipulation of counsel as to what the law is; but here it is certified by the court, as a fact in the cause, that the police court in which the defendant had his only preliminary examination is the police court authorized (established) “by senate resolution No. 2, approving the charter of the said city of Los Angeles,” and that said Stanton was elected judge of said court, and was acting by virtue of such election. On facts so certified this court cannot do otherwise than hold that the police court of which said Stanton was acting as judge had no legal existence, and consequently that there could be no judge thereof either de jure or defacto.
¶2While a municipal charter framed, adopted, and approved as 'provided in article 11, section 8, of the constitution, is a law of the highest order, — one established by the people direct, and by the authority of the constitution,— “the organic law” of the municipality, superseding “any existing charter, and any amendments thereof, and all special laws inconsistent with such charter, *341and is by the constitution itself protected from the encroachment of legislative enactment, it is valid law only so far as its provisions are kept within the limitations prescribed by the constitution. It is invalid whenever and in so far as it undertakes to establish courts of justice; for the same constitution which authorizes its adoption has prescribed that the judicial power of the state shall be vested in certain courts named in that instrument, “and in such inferior courts as the legislature may establish in any incorporated city or town, or city and county.” (Art. 6, sec. 1.) Thus it will be seen that it is not appointed for the people of municipalities to establish courts. These, where not established by the people through the constitution, can be established by the legislature only. It can establish them only by the passage of appropriate laws; and it can pass no law except by bill, and in the manner prescribed by article 4, sections 15 and 16, of the constitution.
¶3I dissent. It would serve no useful purpose to enter upon an elaborate presentation of the views which have led me to a conclusion opposed to that of the court, but the point decided is so important that the occasion seems to justify a brief statement of the grounds upon which, in my opinion, that portion of the charter of Los Angeles establishing a police court should be held valid and operative.
¶4I think that the framers of the constitution, in adopting the provisions of section 8 of article 11, intended to confer upon cities the power to frame and adopt charters which should be whole and complete. A municipal court of some sort was general^, and I believe universally, a part of all city charters in California before, and has been since, the adoption of the new constitution. A municipal charter containing no provision for a municipal court would be very unusual, to say the least. And so firmly is this idea implanted in the popular and profes*342sional mind, that of the seven or eight freeholders’ charters that have been framed since the adoption of the new constitution, not one, I believe, has omitted to provide for a police court. When it is remembered that the boards of-freeholders by whom these charters have been framed were largely composed of lawyers of recognized standing and ability, and when it is considered further that in all the litigation which has ensued concerning the rights and jurisdiction of the courts so established, the point has been raised for the first time in this case that it is not competent by a freeholders’ charter to create a police court, or endow it with any jurisdiction, it would certainly seem that the proposition ought not to be treated as too plain for argument.
¶5The objection to establishing an inferior court by means of a freeholders’ charter is, that such courts must be established by the legislature (Const., art. 6, sec. 1), and their jurisdiction and powers must be regulated by law (art. 6, sec. 13), and no law can be passed except by bill. (Art. 4, sec. 15.)
¶6If the constitution were perfectly consistent in the use of words, this argument would be infallible; but the constitution is not so consistent. At the same time that it says in the section last cited that no law shall be passed except by bill, it expressly provides in another section for the enactment of a particular kind of law by another method. (Art. 11, sec. 8.)
¶7To make the constitution consistent and harmonious as a whole, verbal discrepancies must be disregarded. Section 15 of article 4 must be regarded as the rule for enacting statutes in general, and section 8 of article 11 as the exceptional method of enacting special city charters.
¶8Such charters are laws. Since they repeal laws, i. e., pre-existing charters and all special laws inconsistent with them, it cannot be denied that they have the substance, force, and effect of law, and in the constitution *343itself they are given the name of laws. Can it not be said, then, that every requirement of the constitution is satisfied in the creation of a municipal court by such a charter ?
¶9The legislature must approve the charter. Therefore, what the charter establishes the legislature establishes; The charter is a law. Therefore, the jurisdiction conferred by it is conferred by law.
¶10It is not suggested that any inconvenience has been occasioned or could arise from this view. It can scarcely be doubted that it accords with the actual intention of the framers of the constitution. It is certain that it comports with the general understanding hitherto prevailing, and if I am not mistaken, it has been shown not to be in conflict with a fair construction of the terms of those provisions which are supposed to condemn it.