Opinion
BIRD, C. J.
May an exception to the law, which otherwise applies equally to every Californian, be carved out for a special class of individuals so that a person may violate, with impunity, a criminal statute which prohibits hunting out of season on public or private land simply because he belongs to an Indian tribe which once occupied the land?
I.
The relevant facts are uncontroverted. Petitioner, Andrew Wilson, is a member of the Atsugewi branch of the Pit River Indians. About 5:30 p.m. on December 8, 1978, he was apprehended by William Fisher, a game warden, with two deer carcasses in his possession. Fisher seized both the deer and a .22 caliber rifle he found in petitioner’s truck. Petitioner was cited for unlawful possession of deer taken during closed season in violation of section 2002 of the Fish and Game Code.1 When apprehended, petitioner was on lands within the aboriginal territory of the Pit River Indians.2
At his court trial, petitioner did not dispute the sufficiency of the evidence to establish that he violated section 2002. Instead, he argued that the Pit River Indians’ aboriginal hunting rights had not been extinguished. Therefore, he contended that the state could regulate the [24]*24Indians’ hunting activities within their aboriginal territory only if the regulation met applicable federal standards. (See, e.g., Antoine v. Washington (1975) 420 U.S. 194 [43 L.Ed.2d 129, 95 S.Ct. 944]; compare, Kake Village v. Egan (1962) 369 U.S. 60 [7 L.Ed.2d 573, 82 S.Ct. 562, 680].) Since the state could not demonstrate that the regulation at issue was a reasonable and necessary conservation measure, that its application to the Indians was necessary in the interest of conservation, and that it did not discriminate against the Indians (Antoine v. Washington, supra, at p. 207 [43 L.Ed.2d at p. 139]), petitioner asserted that the law could not be applied to him.
Rejecting this argument, the trial court found petitioner guilty of the offense charged and sentenced him to serve a one-year term of probation with a seven-day work furlough at the California Department of Transportation. Execution of the sentence was stayed pending appeal.
The Appellate Department of the Shasta County Superior Court affirmed petitioner’s conviction and refused to certify an appeal. Petitioner now seeks habeas corpus relief. The trial court’s stay remains in effect.
II.
Central to petitioner’s claim is his assertion that the Pit River Indian aboriginal right to hunt has not been extinguished. Since it is now established that the tribe’s aboriginal “right to occupy” their native territory has been extinguished (United States v. Gemmill (9th Cir. 1976) 535 F.2d 1145, 1148-1149, cert. den. sub nom., Wilson v. United States (1976) 429 U.S. 982 [50 L.Ed.2d 592, 97 S.Ct. 497]),3 the precise issue which this court must decide is whether extinguishment of the tribe’s Indian title to, or right to occupy, their aboriginal territory operated to extinguish the tribe’s aboriginal hunting rights.
[25]*25Petitioner contends these rights are not mere incidents of Indian title but are rights separate therefrom which may be extinguished only pursuant to an express and specific congressional mandate. To assess this contention, it is necessary to review the nature and scope of Indian title and the effect of extinguishment of such title.
Indian title connotes only a permissive right to occupy land, fee title to the land resting with the United States government. (Oneida Indian Nation v. County of Oneida (1974) 414 U.S. 661, 667 [39 L.Ed. 2d 73, 79, 94 S.Ct. 772]; Johnson v. McIntosh (1823) 21 U.S. (8 Wheat.) 240, 253-254 [5 L.Ed. 681, 688-689].) Federal case law holds that the Indian right of occupancy is a mere possessory interest, not a property right. (Tee-Hit-Ton Indians v. United States (1955) 348 U.S. 272, 279, 288-289 [99 L.Ed. 314, 320, 324-325, 75 S.Ct. 313].) This interest is incapable of alienation absent federal authorization (Oneida Indian Nation, supra, at pp. 667, 669 [39 L.Ed.2d at pp. 79, 80]; Johnson v. McIntosh, supra, at pp. 261-262 [5 L.Ed. at pp. 693-694]), and it may be extinguished by the federal government at any time (Oneida Indian Nation, supra, at p. 670 [39 L.Ed.2d at pp. 80-81]; U.S. v. Santa Fe Pacific R. Co., supra, 314 U.S. 339, 347 [86 L.Ed. 260, 270, 62 S.Ct. 248]; Johnson v. McIntosh, supra, at pp. 259-260 [5 L.Ed. at pp. 691-693]).4
[26]*26Until extinguished, such right of occupancy carries with it full use of the land. “The Indians had command of the lands and the waters— command of all their beneficial use, whether kept for hunting, ‘and grazing roving herds of stock,’ or turned to agriculture ...” and other uses. (Winters v. United States (1908) 207 U.S. 564, 576 [52 L.Ed. 340, 346, 28 S.Ct. 207].)
The scope of Indian title was the central question decided in Shoshone Tribe v. U.S. (Shoshone I) (1937) 299 U.S. 476 [81 L.Ed. 360, 57 S.Ct. 244], and U.S. v. Shoshone Tribe (Shoshone II) (1938) 304 U.S. 111 [82 L.Ed. 1213, 58 S.Ct. 794]. At issue in that litigation was the compensation due the Indians for the taking of a portion of their reservation lands. While the litigation involved a treaty, the treaty was silent regarding the extent of the Indians’ rights in the lands.5 The outcome turned, therefore, on the scope of the Indian tenure prior to the treaty, or, more specifically, on the scope of Indian title. (See generally, Cohen, Original Indian Title (1947) 32 Minn.L.Rev. 28, 54-55.)6
In Shoshone I, Justice Cardozo held that the Shoshones had the “right of occupancy with all its beneficial incidents [citation].” (Shoshone I, supra, 299 U.S. at p. 496 [81 L.Ed. at p. 369].) As Shoshone I dealt only with fixing the date of the taking and not with damages, the court did not define those incidents, but held that “[t]he right of occupancy is the primary one to which the incidents attach.” (Ibid.)
[27]*27Shoshone II forced the court to answer, at least in part, the question it had avoided in Shoshone I. Did the tribe’s right of occupancy include timber and mineral resources? The court held that in the absence of an express reservation of such beneficial interest in the United States, the tribe had “the right which has always been understood to belong to Indians” (Shoshone II, supra, 304 U.S. at p. 117 [82 L.Ed. at p. 1219]), the right of occupancy with all its beneficial incidents, including the timber and mineral resources. (Id., at pp. 115-118 [82 L.Ed. at pp. 1217-1219]; accord, U.S. v. Klamath Indians (1938) 304 U.S. 119 [82 L.Ed. 1219, 58 S.Ct. 799].)
Similarly, the right to hunt and to fish has been held to be included within the right of occupancy. (E.g., Winters v. United States, supra, 207 U.S. at p. 576 [52 L.Ed. at p. 346]; State v. Coffee (1976) 97 Idaho 905 [556 P.2d 1185, 1189] [“aboriginal title includes the right to hunt and fish”]; State v. Stasso (1977) 172 Mont. 242 [563 P.2d 562, 563] [following State v. Coffee, supra. “[h]unting and fishing rights are part and parcel with aboriginal title”]; United States v. State of Minn. (D.Minn. 1979) 466 F.Supp. 1382, 1385 [“aboriginal hunting, fishing, trapping, or wild ricing rights ... are mere incidents of Indian title, not rights separate from Indian title”], affd. sub nom., Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians v. State of Minn. (8th Cir. 1980) 614 F.2d 1161, cert. den. 449 U.S. 905 [66 L.Ed.2d 136, 101 S.Ct. 279]; State v. Keezer (1980) — Minn. — [292 N.W.2d 714, 720-721] [following United States v. State of Minn., supra: “‘hunting. .. rights are mere incidents of Indian title’”], cert. den. 450 U.S. 930 [67 L.Ed.2d 363, 101 S.Ct. 1389].)
Moreover, in a number of treaties with the Indians, Congress explicitly recognized the right to hunt as one of the privileges of occupancy. (E.g., Treaty of January 9, 1789, with the Wyandots, 7 Stat. 29 [reserving land to the Indians “to live and hunt upon, and otherwise to occupy as they see fit”]; Treaty of March 28, 1836, with the Ottawas and Chippewas, 7 Stat. 495 [reserving to the Indians the “right to hunt” along with “the other usual privileges of occupancy”].)
No decision has been found wherein a court has taken the view that hunting rights exist “[i]n addition to, and as a distinct right separate from aboriginal title” (dis. opn. of Mosk, J., post, at p. 38). It is not surprising that the dissent can cite no authority for its position. The dissent’s reliance on Sac & Fox Tribe of Mississippi in Iowa v. Licklider (8th Cir. 1978) 576 F.2d 145 is misplaced. There, the Eighth Circuit [28]*28held that the Sac and Fox tribe lost its aboriginal right to hunt and fish when it ceded to the United States all the lands west of the Mississippi River to which it had any claim or title or interest. (Id., at pp. 151, 153.) No mention was made of the relation between aboriginal hunting rights and aboriginal title. Other courts, construing virtually identical treaty language, have expressly found that such language operated to extinguish a tribe’s aboriginal title which included the tribe’s hunting and fishing rights. (United States v. State of Minn., supra, 466 F.Supp. at p. 1385; State v. Keezer, supra, 292 N.W.2d at pp. 720-721.) Nothing in Licklider is to the contrary. Moreover, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, which decided Licklider, has affirmed this reasoning. (Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians v. State of Minn., supra, 614 F.2d at p. 1162.)
Menominee Tribe v. United States, supra, 391 U.S. 404, is also misconstrued by the dissent. In Menominee Tribe, the Supreme Court construed a treaty granting the tribe a reservation ‘“for a home, to be held as Indian lands are held.’” (Id., at pp. 405-406 [20 L.Ed.2d at p. 699].) The court held that “the language ‘to be held as Indian lands are held’ includes the right to fish and to hunt.” (Id., at p. 406 [20 L.Ed.2d at p. 699].) In reaching that conclusion, the court noted with approval the rationale of the Wisconsin Supreme Court in State v. Sanapaw (1963) 21 Wis.2d 377 [124 N.W.2d 41, 44]. (Id., at p. 406, fn. 2 [20 L.Ed.2d at p. 699].) There, this language was construed as the Menominees would have understood it (see United States v. Winans (1905) 198 U.S. 371, 380-381 [49 L.Ed. 1089, 1092, 25 S.Ct. 662]). As a result, the Wisconsin court held that the tribe would enjoy on the reservation the hunting and fishing rights they had enjoyed on lands held under aboriginal title. (State v. Sanapaw, supra, 124 N.W.2d 41.) The Supreme Court also noted that this language “sum[s] up in a single phrase the familiar provisions of earlier treaties which recognized hunting and fishing as normal incidents of Indian life. [Citation omitted.]” (Menominee Tribe, supra, at p. 406, fn. 2 [20 L.Ed.2d at p. 699].)
United States v. Winans, supra, 198 U.S. 371, cited by the dissent, is also inapposite. Winans construed the treaty by which the Yakima Indians ceded to the United States a portion of their Indian title lands. One clause of the treaty provided that the Indians were to retain, on the ceded lands, inter alia, “‘the right of taking fish at all the usual and accustomed places,’” and the right “‘of erecting temporary buildings for [29]*29curing them’ . . ..” (Id., at p. 378 [49 L.Ed. at p. 1091 ].)7 The respondents maintained that this provision secured to the Indians only such fishing rights on the ceded lands as any citizen of the state would have. (Id., at p. 380 [49 L.Ed. at p. 1092].)
Rejecting this construction, the court stated: “At the time the treaty was made the fishing places were part of the Indian country, subject to the occupancy of the Indians, with all the rights such occupancy gave. [Italics added.] The object of the treaty was to limit the occupancy to certain lands and to define rights outside of them.... [¶] The right to resort to the fishing places in controversy was a part of larger rights possessed by the Indians, upon the exercise of which there was not a shadow of impediment, and which were not much less necessary to the existence of the Indians than the atmosphere they breathed. New conditions came into existence, to which those rights had to be accommodated. Only a limitation of them, however, was necessary and intended, not a taking away.” (Id., at pp. 379, 381 [49 L.Ed. at pp. 1091, 1092].) Since “it was within the competency of the Nation to secure to the Indians ... a remnant of [their] great rights ...” (id., at p. 384 [49 L.Ed. at p. 1094]), the court held that the treaty language indicated a congressional intent to secure to the Indians an ongoing right in the ceded land: “the right of crossing it to the river—the right to occupy it to the extent and for the purpose mentioned.” (Id., at p. 381 [49 L.Ed. at p. 1093].)8
Clearly, none of the cases relied upon by the dissent provides authority for the proposition that aboriginal hunting rights are not incidents of aboriginal title. Further, every case directly addressing the relation between aboriginal title and aboriginal hunting rights holds that such rights are incidents of aboriginal title. “[A]boriginal title [is] more [30]*30than just a right to remain camped on the land.” (State v. Coffee, supra, 556 P.2d 1185, 1188.) It is the right to any and all beneficial uses of the land. It is the right of the Indians to live and hunt upon the land and otherwise to occupy it as they see fit. The case law is clear, Hunting and fishing rights are an incident of the right of occupancy, an incident of aboriginal title. If aboriginal title is ceded to the government, the right to hunt and fish on those lands is gone. Emotions might dictate an opposite result, but this court must follow the law.
It is equally well established that extinguishment of Indian title, if absolute and unconditional, vests in the United States or its grantee an “absolute title” unrestricted by Indian rights. (Johnson v. McIntosh, supra, 21 U.S. (8 Wheat.) at pp. 259, 261 [5 L.Ed. at pp. 692, 693].) “[W]henever the Indian right of occupancy [is] terminated (if such termination [is] absolute and unconditional) the [owner] of the fee ... acquire[s] a perfect and unburdened title and right of possession.” (Minnesota v. Hitchcock (1902) 185 U.S. 373, 389 [46 L.Ed. 954, 963, 22 S.Ct. 650]; accord, United States v. State of Minn., supra, 466 F.Supp. at p. 1385; State v. Keezer, supra, 292 N.W.2d at pp. 720-721; see also Rosebud Sioux Tribe v. Kneip (1977) 430 U.S. 584, 592 [51 L.Ed.2d 660, 668, 97 S.Ct. 1361]; DeCoteau v. District County Court (1975) 420 U.S. 425, 445-446 [43 L.Ed.2d 300, 314-315, 95 S.Ct. 1082].) If, however, the extinguishment of Indian title is qualified, or limited, that portion excepted from extinguishment survives. (United States v. Winans, supra, 198 U.S. 371 [see ante, at p. 29; State v. Coffee (1976) 97 Idaho 905 [556 P.2d 1185, 1192-1193].) Therefore, under the law, if the extinguishment of the Pit River Indian title was absolute and unconditional the Indians’ occupancy rights, including their hunting rights, were abolished.9
Menominee Tribe v. United States, supra, 391 U.S. 404, is not to the contrary. The dissent argues that this case stands for the proposition that hunting rights are extinguished only if Congress acts specifically and unequivocally to extinguish them. (See dis. opn. of Mosk, J., post, at p. 39.) The rule of construction applied by Menominee Tribe is that ‘“the intention to abrogate or modify a treaty is not to be lightly imputed to the Congress.’” (Menominee Tribe, supra, at p. 413 [20 L.Ed.2d at p. 703].) As interpreted by the Supreme Court, the case clearly es[31]*31tablishes that in construing treaties, the focus of the inquiry is on congressional intent. (See Washington v. Yakima Indian Nation (1979) 439 U.S. 463, 478, fn. 22 [58 L.Ed.2d 740, 754, 99 S.Ct. 740]; Washington v. Fishing Vessel Assn., supra, 443 U.S. at p. 690 [61 L.Ed.2d at p. 848].) The court will consider all relevant indicia of that intent: “[W]hether a congressional determination to terminate is ‘expressed on the face of the (relevant) Act(s) or [is] clear from the surrounding circumstances and legislative history.’ [Citation omitted; brackets in original.]” (Rosebud Sioux Tribe v. Kneip, supra, 430 U.S. 584, 588, fn. 4 [51 L.Ed.2d 660, 666]; see generally, Coggins & Modrcin, Native American Indians and Federal Wildlife Law (1979) 31 Stan.L.Rev. 375, 384.)
Indeed, this is precisely the inquiry undertaken by the court in Menominee Tribe. The court looked first to the face of the Menominee Termination Act. It found language which provided that upon termination of federal supervision over the tribe and its property, “‘the laws of the several States shall apply to the tribe and its members in the same manner as they apply to other[s]’ ...(Menominee Tribe, supra, 391 U.S. at p. 410 [20 L.Ed.2d at p. 701].) This forcefully suggested an intent to submit the hunting and fishing rights of the Indians to regulation by the State of Wisconsin. (Ibid.) The court then looked to the surrounding circumstances and legislative history. In so doing, the oourt discovered that “[t]he same Congress that passed the Termination Act also passed Public Law 280 ...” which became effective well in advance of the Termination Act and at a time when the Menominee Reservation was still part of Indian country. (Id., at pp. 410-411 [20 L.Ed.2d at pp. 701-702].) That law granted Wisconsin, among other states, jurisdiction over offenses committed by Indians in Indian country. However, the law further provided that it was not meant to deprive any Indian of any right or immunity provided under a treaty “‘with respect to hunting, trapping, or fishing or the control, licensing, or regulation thereof.’” (Ibid, [italics in original].)
Considering the two acts in pari materia, the court concluded that although Congress intended federal supervision of the tribe to cease and all tribal property to pass to a corporation formed by the tribe, it also intended to preserve the tribe’s hunting and fishing rights. (Id., at p. 411 [20 L.Ed.2d at p. 702]; see also, Kimball v. Callahan (9th Cir. 1974) 493 F.2d 564, 567-569.)
[32]*32In seeking to determine whether aboriginal rights have been extinguished, the nature of the inquiry is much the same. The question is congressional intent. (See U.S. v. Santa Fe Pacific R. Co., supra, 314 U.S. 339.) Accordingly, this court must consider whether the legislative history reveals a congressional determination to extinguish the Pit River Indian title in its entirety which would include the tribe’s hunting rights.
A review of the “century-long course of conduct” by which the federal government extinguished the Pit River Indian title (U.S. v. Gemmill, supra, 535 F.2d at p. 1149) leads inescapably to the conclusion that the Indians’ occupancy rights have been extinguished in their entirety. To relate the manner in which this extinguishment was carried out is to set forth a dismal chapter in the history of this nation and in the history of this state.
California was admitted to the Union on September 9, 1850. (9 Stat. 452.) Thereafter, Congress began to debate what steps to take to remove the Indians of California from contact with the horde of gold seekers who had begun flooding the state, so as to reduce the friction between the two groups. (Heizer, Treaties, in 8 Handbook of North American Indians, supra, p. 702; )10
In 1852, Congress enacted legislation authorizing President Fillmore to appoint commissioners to negotiate treaties with the California tribes. He did so, and subsequently these commissioners negotiated 18 treaties with many of the California Indians. (Ibid.)
Soon after the provisions of the treaties became known, the California Legislature adopted resolutions opposing their ratification. (See [33]*33generally, Ellison, Rejection of the California Indian Treaties. A Study in Local Influence on National Policy, in Treaty Making and Treaty Rejection by the Federal Government in California, 1850-1852 (Heizer edit. 1978) pp. 50, 54-59.) The Legislature wanted the Indians removed to reservations outside the state. (Id., at p. 56.) Largely because of the opposition of the Legislature and the senators from California, the United States Senate refused to ratify the treaties, on July 8, 1852. The United States Senate placed the treaties under an injunction of secrecy which was not removed for over 50 years. (Heizer, Treaties, in 8 Handbook of North American Indians, supra, at p. 703.)
In March of 1852, Congress passed an act establishing a “superintendency of Indian affairs” in California. (10 Stat. 2.) When the treaties were rejected, Congress authorized the expenditure of a sum of money for the preservation of peace with the Indians who had been dispossessed of their lands as a result of the abortive attempt to establish treaties. (10 Stat. 56.) Also, the Congress wanted to prevent the starvation of the Indians. (Ellison, The Federal Indian Policy in California, 1846-1860 (1976) at pp. 204-205.)12
In 1852, the superintendent, Edward F. Beale, reported that “some adjustment of the Indian question was necessary, as white people were fast filling up the habitable territory to the exclusion of the Indians.” (Id., at p. 206.) Beale recommended in 1853 that Congress establish several “military reservations” to which the Indians could be removed. Such reservations were to be established on unoccupied lands, with the understanding that if the growth in the Caucasian population required it, the location of these properties would be changed. (Id., at pp. 206-212.) Congress adopted this recommendation13 and apparently pursued the policy into the 1870’s. (Id., at pp. 212-230; see U.S. v. Forty-Eight Pounds of Rising Star Tea (N.D.Cal. 1888) 35 F. 403; see generally, Tyler, A History of Indian Policy (1973) at p. 7.)
[34]*34The influx of Caucasians into the Pit River Indians’ territory continued and a series of conflicts followed. In the 1850’s and the 1860’s the government undertook concentrated military action against the Indians. In 1859, all of the Indians who could be found were removed to the Round Valley Reservation. (Pitt River Indians v. United States, supra, 7 Ind.Cl.Com. 815, 852.) By 1863, many of these Indians had left the reservation and the conflict continued until, in 1867, the Indians were “decisively overcome” at the Battle of the Infernal Caverns. (Id., at pp. 852, 862; see also United States v. Gemmill, supra, 535 F.2d 1145, 1148.) As a result, the Pit River Indians “have not been in physical possession of [much of their aboriginal territory] for 100 years....” (United States v. Gemmill, supra.)14 These events, considered in light of the federal government’s general policy toward the Indians of California, strongly indicate an intent on the part of Congress to completely extinguish the Indian title of the Pit River Indians.
Finally, from a legal standpoint the question concerning the extinguishment of the tribe’s Indian title was “decisively resolved by congressional payment of compensation to the Pit River Indians for these lands.” (United States v. Gemmill, supra, 535 F.2d at p. 1149.)15 In the 1950’s, the tribe filed a claim for compensation for the taking of their Indian title with the Indian Claims Commission. (See 25 U.S.C. § 70a(4).)16 In 1959, the commission found that their Indian title had been taken (Pitt River Indians v. United States, supra, 7 Ind.Cl.Com. at p. 862), and in 1964, the commission approved a compromise final settlement of the Pit River Indian claim and that of other California Indian tribes. (Thompson v. United States, supra, 13 Ind.Cl.Com. at p. 513.)
[35]*35The settlement agreement provided that “entry of final judgment shall finally dispose of all claims or demands which any of the [Indians] have asserted or could have asserted against [the United States] . . . and [the Indians] ... shall be barred from asserting all such claims or demands in any future action.” (Id., at p. 386; italics added.) Congress immediately appropriated the funds to pay the settlement. (Act of October 7, 1964, 78 Stat. 1033; Andrade v. United States (Ct.Cl. 1973) 485 F.2d 660, 661.) As the Ninth Circuit observed in Gemmill, “[payment of the Pit River claim eliminates any lingering doubt that by 1964 Congress had [extinguished] the Indians’ rights of permissive occupancy. [Italics added.]” (United States v. Gemmill, supra, 535 F.2d at p. 1149.)17
The federal government’s course of conduct unquestionably establishes that extinguishment of the Pit River Indian title was absolute and unconditional. When the tribe’s Indian title was extinguished, so too, under the law, were the tribe’s aboriginal hunting rights.18
[36]*36III.
“Every American ... knows that the [Indian] tribes of this continent were deprived of their ancestral ranges by force and that, even when the Indians ceded millions of acres by treaty .. ., it was ... the conquerors’ will that deprived them of their land.” (Tee-Hit-Ton Indians v. United States, supra, 348 U.S. at pp. 289-290 [99 L.Ed. at pp. 325-326].) However, this court is precluded by law from questioning the justness of these actions. (U.S. v. Santa Fe Pacific R. Co., supra, 314 U.S. at p. 347 [86 L.Ed. at p. 270].) “[Ojur task here is a narrow one... . [W]e cannot remake history.” (DeCoteau v. District County Court, supra, 420 U.S. at p. 449 [43 L.Ed.2d at p. 317].)
The federal case law and the history of the federal government’s policy toward Indian title to California property clearly establish that the Pit River Indians retain no special hunting rights. Therefore, the state is not required by law to make any special showing to justify application of its hunting regulations to the Indians within their aboriginal territory.
Although this court is precluded from granting the relief sought by petitioners, neither the Legislature nor the Fish and Game Commission face the same legal impediments. Either one of these bodies could grant limited hunting privileges on these ancestral lands consistent with the requirements of conservation. (See Elser v. Gill Net Number One (1966) 246 Cal.App.2d 30, 35 [54 Cal.Rptr. 568]; see also Washington v. Fishing Vessel Assn., supra, 443 U.S. 658, 673, fn. 20 [61 L.Ed.2d 823, 837-838].) This court commends such a course to those two governmental bodies.
Emotion and sympathy, however well intentioned, cannot properly play a role in this court’s resolution of this legal issue. Since the law allows no other recourse, the order to show cause is discharged and the petition for a writ of habeas corpus is denied.
[37]*37Tobriner, J., Richardson, J., Rouse, J.,* and Franson, J.,* concurred.
Assigned by the Chairperson of the Judicial Council.