Pryor v. Municipal Court

In Pryor v. Municipal Court (1979) 25 Cal.3d 238, the California Supreme Court gave a narrowing construction to Penal Code section 647, subdivision (a), which defines as disorderly conduct one "who solicits anyone to engage in or who engages in lewd or dissolute conduct in any public place or in any place open to the public or exposed to public view." To avoid invalidating the ordinance for vagueness because of the phrase, "lewd and dissolute conduct," the court narrowed the definition to specific acts committed "by a person who knows or should know of the presence of persons who may be offended by the conduct." ( Id., at p. 244.)