Law Commons^™

Ho Ah Kow V. Matthew Nuan, Thomas M. Cooley

Articles

"An ordinance of San Francisco, that every male person imprisoned in the county jail, under any judgment of the any court having jurisdiction in criminal cases in the city and county, should immediately upon his arrival at the jail, have the hair of his head 'cut or clipped to an uniform length of one inch from the scalp thereof,' and made it the duty of the sheriff to have this provision enforced, is invalid, being in excess of the authority of the municipal body....

The ordinance being directed against the Chinese only, imposing on them a degrading and cruel punishment, …