In re Terrill

144 F. 616, 75 C.C.A. 418, 1906 U.S. App. LEXIS 3865
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedMarch 20, 1906
DocketNo. 63
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 144 F. 616 (In re Terrill) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Terrill, 144 F. 616, 75 C.C.A. 418, 1906 U.S. App. LEXIS 3865 (8th Cir. 1906).

Opinion

SANBORN, Circuit Judge,

orally announced the opinion of the court.

The prisoner seeks a discharge by a writ of habeas corpus from imprisonment in the jail at Perry in the territory of Oklahoma. He is held under a commitment issued by the district court of the territory of Oklahoma for the county of Noble, which recites that he was convicted on December '14, 1894, of the murder of one Embry on January 3, 1891. The function of a writ of habeas corpus is not to review the errors of the court that tried the prisoner, nor the irregularities that may have arisen in the proceedings resulting in his conviction. The prisoner was convicted for a violation of a law. of the territory of Oklahoma, and not for the violation of any law of the United States. Section 753 of the Revised Statutes [U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 592], prohibits the national courts from releasing a prisoner thus convicted, except for a violation of a treaty, a- law of the United States, or the Constitution of the United States. It is not claimed that there is any violation of any law of the United States ór of any treaty of the United States by the incarceration of the prisoner. The only ground upon which he may have relief in this court is that he is confined in violation of that section of the Constitution which forbids the deprivation of life, liberty, or property without due. process of law. In determining whether or not the prisoner is confined by due process of law, this court is limited by the decisions of the Supreme Court to the consideration of the two questions Had the court that convicted the prisoner jurisdiction of the offense and of the prisoner, and did it act within its jurisdiction? And, second, is he now held by authority of law derived from that court?

The first claim of the petitioner is that the court which convicted him had no jurisdiction of the offense, because it was committed upon the government acre which is reserved by the proclamation of the President of March 23, 1889, in these words \ “Which last described two acres are hereby reserved for government use and control.” This reservation, however, is by a proclamation of the President. By the organic act of the territory of Oklahoma, which had been passed on May 2, 1890, jurisdiction was granted to the courts of Oklahoma to try and condemn for violations of both the federal and state laws committed not only upon other portions of this territory, but also upon the two • acres to which reference is made in this proclamation. The courts of Oklahoma territory had jurisdiction of this offense, although it was committed upon this government acre, then, because that jurisdiction was granted to them by the act of Congress, and it could not be withdrawn from them by any act of the President. There is another reason why the courts of that territory had jurisdiction, and that is that the words of the reservation are insufficient to retain- exclusive jurisdiction over the acre in the coúrts or the jurisprudence of the United States. This question was decided by the Supreme Court in U. S. v. McBratney, 104 U. S. 621, 26 L. Ed. 869, and Draper v. U. S., 164 U. S. 240, 17 Sup. Ct. 107, 41 L. Ed. 419, where it was held that a declaration of Congress that “Indian lands shall remain under the absolute jurisdiction and [619]*619control oí the United States” was not sufficient to withdraw or retain them without the jurisdiction of the state.

The second objection to the jurisdiction of the court and its power to issue the commitment is that the records of the various sessions of the courts which acted upon the charge against the prisoner froin the time that the original indictment was found, down to the dose of the trial, show that the court wliidi convened and the court which adjourned was the United States District Court for the respective counties of the territory. This is exemplified by the proceedings in the court in which the indictment was found, where it appears that the United States District Court convened, the United States District Court adjourned from time to time, and during a session of the United States District Court the grand jury, which had apparently been impaneled to inquire into violations of laws of the territory, was sworn as a grand jury to inquire into violations of laws of the United States. It is said that there was no jurisdiction to try and convict the defendant, because there was no court of the territory of Oklahoma in session during these* proceedings. The organic act of the territory provides that the judicial power of the territory shall be vested in the Supreme Court, district courts and other courts. It gives to these courts jurisdiction to try all charges for violations of laws of the territory and adds:

“Each of said district: courts shall have and exercise, exclusive of any court heretofore established, tile same .jurisdiction in all cases arising under the Constitution and laws of the United Stall's as is vested in the Circuit and Pisirict Courts of tlie United ¡States.”

The result of this grant was that a single court created by the appointment of a judge by the President of tlie United States, confirmed by the Senate of tlie United States, and by the appointment or election of a clerk and a sheriff, ivas vested with the power to try all offenses within its territorial _ jurisdiction for violations of the laws of the territory, and also for Violations of the laws of the United States. It was not a United States District Court in the. sense that that title is used in tlie states, because it did not obtain any of the judicial power specified in article 3 of the Constitution of the United States. It seems to he considered that .the title of this court conditions its power. But its jurisdiction is not -conditioned by its title. It is conditioned by the grant of its power and its exercise of that grant. 'That tribunal duly organized had the power to try offenders for violations of tlie laws of the territory and of the United States. The limit of its power was that it might not under a charge of a violation of a law of the United States try a prisoner for the violation of a law of the territory; neither could it, upon a charge of a violation of a law of the territory, try a prisoner for a violation of the law of the United States. When the charge against the offender was presented to the court in Bogan county, it was sitting under the title of the United States District Court for Bogan county. A grand jury nad been sworn to inquire into violations of the laws of the territory and of the laws of the United States. It had the power to call a jurv and to impose oaths for an inquisition into offenses against both sets [620]*620of laws, and it is impossible to see how there could have been any failure of júrisdiction or power because this court was called by one title or by another. The conclusion upon this branch of the case is that the territorial court provided by the organic act, by whatever name it might be called, had ample power to try the prisoner for any offense against the laws of the United States, or against the laws of the territory, and that, if he was properly charged with an offense either against the laws of the-United States or of the territory of Oklahoma, the court had jurisdiction to try him for that offense, and it was immaterial by what title the court convened, adjourned, or' acted.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
144 F. 616, 75 C.C.A. 418, 1906 U.S. App. LEXIS 3865, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-terrill-ca8-1906.