Ex parte Powell

20 Fla. 806
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedJune 15, 1884
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 20 Fla. 806 (Ex parte Powell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ex parte Powell, 20 Fla. 806 (Fla. 1884).

Opinion

The Chief-Justice delivered the opinion of the court.

This case comes up by writ of error to the judgment of the Circuit Court for Levy county.

Powell was arrested by the Sheriff of Levy couuty upon a warrant issued by the Governor of this Stale upon the requisition of the executive authority of the State of Georgia. The preamble of the warrant of the Governor, showing the cause of arrest, is as follows: “Whereas the executive authority of the State of Georgia has demanded of [808]*808the executive authority of the State of Florida the delivery and surrender of the body of G-. D. Powell, as a fugitive from justice from said State of Georgia to said State of Florida, and has produced and filed with the executive authority of said State of Florida, to which State said G. D. Powell has fled from said State of Georgia, a copy of affidavits charging the said person so demanded with having committed in said State of Georgia, against the laws of said State of -, the crime of larceny after a trust delegated, and which is certified as authentic by the Governor of said State of Georgia. Row, therefore, this is to command you to apurehend and arrest the body of the said G. D. Powell,” &c/

Upon the petition of Powell to be discharged, a writ of habeas corpus was issued to the sheriff who made return that he held petitioner in custody by virtue of the aforesaid warrant of the Governor. Thereupon counsel for petitioner insisted that the sheriff had no legal authority to hold him in custody and moved his discharge. The court denied the motion and remanded him to custody, and judgment to that effect was entered of record.

The Laws of Florida provide that it shall be the duty of the Governor of this State when demand shall be made of him by the Executive of any State or Territory, of any fugitive from justice, in the manner prescribed by the act of Congress approved 12th of February, 1793, to cause said fugitive to be arrested and secured, either by making public proclamation or by issuing an order to that effect under his hand and the seal of the State, directed to the sheriffs of the State, commanding them to arrest the fugitives therein named, &c.

The section of the act of Congress referred to is found in the Revised Statutes of the United States, and is as follows:

Sec. 5278. “ Whenever the Executive authority of any [809]*809State or Territory demands any person as a fugitive from justice of tile Executive authority of any State or Territory to which such person has fled, and produces a copy of an indictment found, or an affidavit made before a magistrate of any State or Territory, charging the person demanded with having committed treason, felony, or other crime, certified as authentic bj" the Governor or Chief Magistrate of the State or Territory from whence the person so charged has fled, it shall be the duty of the Executive authority of the State or Territory to which such person has fled to cause him to be arrested and secured, and to cause notice of the arrest to be given to the Executive authority making such demand, or to the. agent of such authority, appointed to receive the fugitive,-and to cause the fugitive to be delivered to such agent when he shall appear.”

Chief-Justice Taney, delivering the opinion of the court in Com., of Kentucky, vs. Denison, Governor of Ohio, 24 How., L04, says: “The Constitution having established the right on one part and the obligation on the other, it became necessary to provide by law the mode of carrying it into execution. The Governor of the State could not, upon a charge made before Aim, demand the fugitive ; for, according to the principles upon which all of our institutions are founded, the Executive department can act only in subordination to the judicial department, where rights of person or property are concerned, and its duty in these cases consists only in aiding to support the judicial process and enforcing its authority, when its interposition for that purpose becomes necessary, and is called for by the judicial department. The Executive authority of the State, therefore, was not authorized by this article to make the demand unless the party was charged in the regular course of judicial proceedings. And it was equally necessary that the Executive authority of the State upon which the demand was made, [810]*810when called on to render his aid, should be satisfied by competent proof that the party was so charged. 'This proceeding, when duly authenticated, is his authority for arresting the offender.”

The warrant of the Governor, reciting the grounds for the issuing of the same, says, the Governor of Georgia produced and filed with him a copy of affidavits charging the said person so demanded with having committed in said State of Georgia, against the laws of said State, the crime of larceny after a trust delegated, and which is certified as authentic by the Governor of said State of Georgia.”

It is very clearly stated by Ch. J. Taney, in the opinion referred to, that the affidavit required by the act of Congress must be made in the due course of judicial proceedings, and that the Executive authority of the State in such cases- can be interposed only in aid of the courts in the due administration of j ustice. The act of Congress requires that the affidavit be “made before a magistrate” of the demanding State, “ charging the person demanded ” with having committed a crime, which affidavit shall be authenticated bjt the certificate of the Governor of that State. In every similar case reported, so far as we have been able to examine the decisions of other States, the affidavit presented to the Governor was made before a judicial officer in the course of a criminal prosecution.

As Judge Taney remarks, “ the Governor of a State could not, upon a charge made before him, demand the fugitive.” An affidavit made before a Rotary, or other ministerial officer or person having no judicial authority, would not authorize the Governor to make the demand. It is well kuown that in every State persons who are not “ magistrates ” are empowered o certifyt he acknowledgment of deeds and to administer oaths, and so it cannot be presumed that because an oath is taken the person certifying it is a [811]*811judicial officer, and that it is taken in the course of the administration of justice in a criminal prosecution. The act of Congress is explicit, that the “ charge ” must be made before a magistrate, and the demand of the fugitive must be made by the Executive authority in aid of the judicial authority in administering laws for the punishment of crime.

It should not be presumed in the absence of all evidence or recital of the fact that because the Governor of Georgia issued his requisition upon an affidavit, therefore the oath was taken before a magistrate authorized to issue process for arresting persons charged with crime. Presumptions are to be made in favor of personal liberty and upon facts. Presumptions of the existence of facts ai’e not founded upon other presumptions or speculations. There is here no legal presumption that a criminal prosecution was commenced before a magistrate or court, from the fact that an assertion was made on oath that a crime had been committed. Such affidavits are made in civil suits as all lawyers well know, and before Notaries and Commissioners for various purposes other than the prosecution of criminals. Extrajudicial affidavits also are often made and sometimes for mischievous purposes.

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Bluebook (online)
20 Fla. 806, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ex-parte-powell-fla-1884.