In re Scrofford

12 N.Y.S. 943, 66 N.Y. Sup. Ct. 320, 36 N.Y. St. Rep. 748
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 15, 1891
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 12 N.Y.S. 943 (In re Scrofford) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Scrofford, 12 N.Y.S. 943, 66 N.Y. Sup. Ct. 320, 36 N.Y. St. Rep. 748 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1891).

Opinion

Hardin, P. J.

Article 3 in the Code of Civil Procedure prescribes the practice in regard to writs of habeas corpus. Section 2015 provides that a person imprisoned or restrained in his liberty is entitled to a writ of habeas corpus. Section 2017 provides that the application for the writ must be made by a written petition, and mentions the courts and officers who may allow the same. Section 2031 provides that the court or judge before whom the prisoner is brought “must, immediately after the return of the writ, examine into the facts alleged in the return, and into the cause of the imprisonment or restraint of the prisoner, and must make a final order to discharge him therefrom, if no lawful cause for the imprisonment or restraint, or for the continuance thereof, is shown.” Section 2058 provides, viz.: “An appeal maybe taken from an order refusing to grant a writ of habeas corpus, * * * or from a final order, made upon the return of such a writ, to discharge or remand a prisoner, or to dismiss the proceedings.” Section 2059 provides, viz.: “An appeal from a final order, discharging a prisoner committed upon a criminal accusation, or from the affirmance of such an order, may be taken, in the name [945]*945of the people, by the attorney general or the district attorney. ” By section 1991 of the Code of Civil Procedure it is provided that a writ of habeas corpus and writs of certiorari “shall hereafter be styled, collectively, • state writs” and by section 1995 of the Code of Civil Procedure it is provided that parties to a special proceeding instituted by a state writ may appear by attorney; and that section further provides that “where the attorney general or the district attorney does not appear for the people, the attorney for the relator is deemed also the attorney for the people. ” We are of the opinion that the order is appealable, and that the appeal was properly taken by the service of the notice of appeal upon the clerk and upon the attorneys of the defendant, and that the motion to dismiss the appeal should be denied. Section 1995, Code Civil Proc.; section 1300, Id; section 799, Id; section 1, tit. 5, c. 8, pt. 1, Rev. St. (8th Ed.) p. 522; section 7, Rev. St. p. 523; section 2059, Code Civil Proc.

'2. If, upon the warrant before the judge upon the return of the habeas corpus, the copy of an indictment against the defendant, or the affidavits which were presented to the governor, being the papers upon which he issued the rendition warrant, had been produced, the same might have been examined by the judge, and an application made by the defendant that they “were defective, in not showing the nature, facts,'and circumstances of the transaction therein alleged, and not disclosing the grounds on which are based the application of illegality, ” might have been considered. In the case of People v. Brady, 56 N. Y. 184, it appears: “The relator traversed this warrant, setting forth in his answer the affidavits which accompanied the requisition; and alleging, among other things, that the affidavits were defective, etc.” The court therefore, in that ease, looked into the affidavits which were used before the governor, and held they were insufficient. In the ease before us, the affidavits or papers presented to the governor were not produced before the judge on the return of the writ of habeas corpus, and he derived no knowledge or information of their contents, and hence could not pass an adjudication thereon; nor are the affidavits, papers, or copy of indictment used before the governor returned to us, and we are not in a situation to consider their contents, and to determine from an inspection of the same whether they presented a proper case for the issuing of a rendition warrant or not. It is a familiar principle that a presumption obtains that a public officer has discharged his duty until the contrary appears. In People v. Pinkerton, 17 Hun, 199, it was held, viz.: “Where a warrant is issued by the governor for the rendition of a fugitive from j ustice, the court cannot go behind the warrant and inquire into the truth of the facts recited in it. The governor, in determining that the act of congress has been complied with, has no jurisdiction to inquire into the truth of the charges made, or to look outside of the papers presented to determine whether or not the person demanded is a fugitive from justice. The fact that the person has committed a crime in another state established conclusively that he is a fugitive from justice.” It was also said in that case that where “the rendition warrant is accompanied by the papers on which it issued, the question as to the sufficiency of those papers, as a compliance with the act of congress, is before the court.” That case was approved by the court of appeals in People v. Pinkerton, 77 N. Y. 245, and it was held that the “recitals in a warrant of the governor of this state for the arrest of a fugitive from the justice of another state are to be taken, at least pnma/ame, as true.” And it was further held in that case that where a return to a writ of habeas corpus sets forth such a warrant, “which contains recitals of facts necessary to confer authority, under the constitution and laws of the United States, to issue it, is a sufficient justification for holding the prisoner without producing the papers or evidence on which the governor acted. ” It was made an inquiry in that case whether the warrant is conclusive, and whether the defendant may not, by evidence, show that the papers presented to the governor were in fact defective. If it be assumed in this case that the defendant [946]*946should have produced the papers upon which the governor acted before the judge, and upon their production it would have been shown defective and insufficient, the assumption cannot avail the defendant, as the papers were not produced either by him or by the-people, and the judge 'could not therefore determine as to their validity or insufficiency. In People v. Donohue, 84 N. Y. .438, it was held, viz.: “Where the papers upon which a warrant of extradition is issued are withheld by the executive, the warrant itself can only be looked to for the evidence that the essential conditions of its issue have been complied with, and it is sufficient if it recites what the law requires. ” In the opinion delivered in that case it was said: “Where, however, the papérs upon which the warrant is founded are not produced, but are withheld by the executive in the exercise of official discretion and authority, we can look only to the warrant itself, and its recitals, for the evidence that the essential conditions of its issue have been fulfilled. People v. Pinkerton, 77 N. Y. 245.” In that opinion it was further said: “In this case, as in many others, the warrant only is produced, and the papers'on which it is founded are withheld. We are to assume that they are withheld in what seems to the executive the proper performance of official duty. * * * It is enough that the warrant recites what the law requires. We cannot add to it new conditions. * * * We see no reason why the warrant of the executive should be required to go beyond a substantial statement of the-existence of the conditions necessary to its issue. It was so held in an early case (In re Clark, 9 Wend. 222,) and which we think maybe wisely followed. In Re Clark it was distinctly held that a court or judge “will not inquire as to the probable guilt of the accused” upon the return of a writ of habeas corpus.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
12 N.Y.S. 943, 66 N.Y. Sup. Ct. 320, 36 N.Y. St. Rep. 748, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-scrofford-nysupct-1891.