In re Mahon

34 F. 525, 1888 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 50
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Kentucky
DecidedMarch 3, 1888
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 34 F. 525 (In re Mahon) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Mahon, 34 F. 525, 1888 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 50 (E.D. Ky. 1888).

Opinion

BabR, J.,

(orally, after stating the facts as above.) The question presented to the court under this writ of habeas carpus is much narrower than the discussion of counsel would indicate. It is now settled that the courts of the United States recognize the treaty obligation between the United States and other nations in regard to the extradition of fugitives from justice. In a recent case, the supreme court recognized the provisions in regard to extradition, in the treaty known as the “Ash-burton Treaty” between the United States and Great Britain, and decided that a person extradited under that treaty could only be tried for the crime for which be had been extradited. This was not because of the comity which should exist as between nations, nor because the law of nations would have been violated, but because of the terms of the treaty, and the act of congress made to carry out treaty obligations in the matter of extradition of fugitives from justice. U. S. v. Rauscher, 119 U. S. 407, 7 Sup. Ct. Rep. 234. It is also settled that there is not a personal right of asylum in a refugee, who has fled from this country, being charged with crime, to a foreign country. Thus, if there be no treaty authorizing extradition, or if the fugitive from justice is not brought back from a foreign country under and according to the provisions of the treaty, if there be one, then the courts will not allow the fugitive to plead the mode oí his capture and return to this country as an answer to his crime or in abatement to the indictment against him. Ker V. Illinois, 119 U. S. 437; 7 Sup. Ct. Rep. 225; 110 Ill. 630; State v. Brewster, 7 Vt. 118.

As lo a person charged with crime in one of the states of this Union, and who has fled to another state, there is some difference in the reasoning of the courts; but I think all of the American authorities concur in the [528]*528conclusion, that the refugee, under such circumstances, has not a personal right of asylum in the state to which he has ñed. They agree that the refugee, when returned to the state wherein he committed the crime, by whatever means he may have been returned, cannot plead as an answer to his crime the manner of his return, and that he had not been extradited according to and under the law. State v. Smith, 1 Bailey, 283; State v. Ross, 21 Iowa, 467; In re Noyes, 17 Alb. Law J. 407; Dows’ Case, 18 Pa. St. 37. In Dows’ Case, a great jurist, Chief Justice GibsoN, made an important statement, though it was not necessary in the discussion of the case, and" that was, that although a refugee from justice, who is brought to the state where he is charged to have committed the crime, from the state to which he had ñed, has not of himself the right of asylum, if the chief executive of the state from which he has been brought by unlawful means demands his return, he should be discharged under a writ of habeas corpus. This is because of the sovereignty which still exists in the states of this Union, and the comity which should exist between them. This court cannot, however, consider what is or should be the law of comity between the states of this Union, because, by the express language of the act under -which this habeas corpus was issued, this court is confined to the inquiry whether the petitioner is detained in custody by the jailer of Pike county in violation of the constitution or laws of the United States; nor can this court consider any controversy, if there be one, between the state of West Virginia and the state of Kentucky. All such controversies are within the exclusive jurisdiction of the supreme court.

The right to extradite a refugee, who is charged with crime in one state and has fled to another state of this Union, is governed by the second section, art. 4, Const., which provides:

“A person charged in any state with treason, felony, or other cfimes, who who'shall flee from justice, and be found in another state shall, on demand of the executive authority of the state from which he has fled, be delivered up to be removed to the state having jurisdiction of the crime. ”

Congress has enacted laws to carry out this provision of the constitution-, and it is settled that both state and federal courts may, under a writ of habeas corpus, revise the action of the governor of a state upon whom a requisition is made if he acts, and has the refugee arrested, ,to see that the constitution and the act of congress have been complied with. The courts, however, cannot, by any process known to the law, compel a governor upon such a requisition, to act and have the refugee arrested and delivered over. Kentucky v. Dennison, 24 How. 66. It is claimed that the petitioner is detained in violation of the constitution of ihe-United States, and this court should discharge him. And it is argued that the only process by which he could have been extradited was the process provided by the constitution of the,United States, and the laws made thereunder, and that in this case this-process has been invoked in so- fai’ ;as to give this court jurisdiction to revise the action taken under it." It is quite clear,-as will be seen from the statement of facts already -read,: that there Was no. action taken by the authorities of West Virginia [529]*529under the requisition made by the governor of Kentucky. Phillips, though designated by the governor of Kentucky as the agent to receive from the proper authority of West Virginia the petitioner and others, and bring them to Kentucky, never in fact acted as the agent- of the state of Kentucky. It is true, he represented himself to the petitioner as having authority from the governor of West Virginia to arrest him, and as being the agent of the state of Kentucky, but that was false. The governor of West Virginia never issued a warrant for tho arrest of petitioner, nor had Phillips any authority to do so, either from the governor of West Virginia or the governor of Kentucky, or any one else. The process by which a lawful extradition coúld be made was never used; nor did Phillips act under color of authority, and hence this court cannot revise his action as being an effort to act under tho provisions of the constitution and laws of the United States.

This brings us to consider the other proposition, which is that since the adoption of the fourteenth amendment to tho constitution of the United States neither a resident or citizen of one state having been charged with crime in another state, and having fled therefrom, can be extradited from that state, except by the due process of law which is provided in lire federal constitution; and the laws made thereunder, and unless he is thus extradited, he is within the protection of that amendment. It is true, I think, that the only legal mode of arresting a refugee from justice under such circumstances is under and according to the constitution of the United States, and the laws made thereunder, and such state laws as may he constitutionally made in aid thereof. This being true, it may bo insisted that due process of law, as required by that amendment, when a refugee from justice has fled from the state where he is charged with crime to another state, is — First, the mode of extradition as provided by the federal constitution, and the laws thereunder; second, after he is returned éo the state from which he has fled, his arrest under and in accordance with the regular and lawful process of that state.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
34 F. 525, 1888 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 50, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-mahon-kyed-1888.