United States v. Goldstein

271 F. 838, 1921 U.S. App. LEXIS 1876
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 14, 1921
DocketNo. 5427
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 271 F. 838 (United States v. Goldstein) 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
United States v. Goldstein, 271 F. 838, 1921 U.S. App. LEXIS 1876 (8th Cir. 1921).

Opinions

TRIEBER, District Judge

(after stating the facts as above). We will dispose of the questions in the order in which they were assigned by appellant in the assignment of error.

[843]*843[ 1 ] The first question to be determined is: Is the decree appealed from void, for the reason that the hearing was had in the state of Kansas, although the decree was entered in the proper District Court, while in session?

The acts of Congress treat the divisions of a district, unless otherwise provided, as separate districts for jurisdictional purposes. Section 53, Judicial Code (Comp. St. § 1035); Bankruptcy Act, secs. 18f and 18g (Comp. St. § 9602). It has been held that an order granting a new trial, by the 'District Judge, while in another division than where the trial and conviction were had, was within his jurisdiction. Abbott v. Brown, 241 U. S. 606, 36 Sup. Ct. 689, 60 L. Ed. 1199. The facts in that case were: Abbott had been indicted in the District Court for the Southern District of Florida, held at Tarnpa, Ela., for a violation of the Penal Code (Comp. St. §§ 10165-10519); that being the place for the court of one of the six divisions of that district. In the month of March, 1912, he was tried on the indictment, found guilty, and a sentence of imprisonment imposed. May 24, 1912, he filed a motion for new trial. On June 26, 1912, the motion was heard by Judge Locke, at Jacksonville, in the same district, but in another division, and the motion granted. The order of Judge Locke, granting the new trial was forwarded to and entered by the clerk at Tampa, while the judge was absent, under a rule of the court requiring the court to be held open. He was again tried at Tampa on February 11, 1913, when the jury disagreed. On March 13, 1914,■ he was again tried, and the jury returned a verdict of not guilty. In February, 1915, he was indicted for subornation of perjury. He demurred to this indictment, and moved to quash it, upon the ground that Judge Locke had no jurisdiction to grant the new trial. One of the grounds relied on was that the new trial had been granted out of the division in which the cause was pending and the order entered while that court was not in session; the judge not being present. The demurrer and motion to quash were heard by the then presiding judge, the successor of Judge Locke, who sustained the demurrer and quashed the indictment, upon the ground that Judge Locke had no power or authority, after the adjournment order of March 12, 1912, to vacate or set aside the sentence passed upon the appellant on that date, and when out of the division of the district. Thereupon the United States Attorney procured a commitment to be issued on the original judgment of conviction, and while held in custody under this commitment the appellant applied for a writ of habeas corpus. The trial judge discharged the writ, whereupon the cause was appealed to the Supreme Court. The judgment of the lower court, refusing to discharge the petitioner on habeas corpus, was reversed, the court holding that—

“The judgment of conviction having been vacated by an order of the court made within the scope of its power and jurisdiction, there remains no legal foundation for the commitment issued on March 20, 1915, and the appellant is entitled to be discharged from custody.”

In United States v. Louisville & P. Canal Co., Fed. Cas. No. 15,633, Mr. Justice Miller, sitting as Circuit Justice, held that, notwithstanding section 719, Rev. St. (re-enacted as section 264 of the Judicial Code [844]*844[Comp. St. § 1241]),'provided, “But no Justice of the Supreme Court shall hear or allow any application for an injunction or restraining order in any cause pending in the circuit to which he is allotted, elsewhere than within such circuit, or at such place outside of the same as the parties may stipulate in writing, except when it cannot he heard by the Circuit Judge of the circuit or the District Judge of the district,” when the District Judge of the district and the Circuit Judge for the circuit and the Justice of the Supreme Court allotted to that circuit are absent from the district and circuit, any Justice of the Supreme Court has jurisdiction, at any place in the United States, to hear and grant an application for an injunction. In Searles v. Jacksonville, P. & M. R. R, 2 Woods, 621, Fed. Cas. No. 12,586, Mr. Justice Bradley, sitting as Circuit Justice, held that, notwithstanding the provisions of section 719, Rev. St., a Circuit Justice may grant a temporary injunction when the District and Circuit Judges of the district and circuit are disqualified or out of the district and circuit, at ány place where he may be, although out of the circuit, and against the objections 'of the defendants. See, also, United States v. Finnell, 185 U. S. 236, 22 Sup. Ct. 633, 46 L. Ed. 890.

Aside from this, the order correcting the decree made by Judge Pollock was entered by Judge Dyer, the regular presiding judge of tire court in which the original decree had been rendered, thereby making it his decree, based on information from Judge Pollock, which was satisfactory to him.

It is also proper to state in this connection that, when the motion was first presented to Judge Pollock, at Kansas City, Kan., no objection to his hearing it in the state of Kansas was made by the solicitors for appellant. The first time this objection was made was when the hearing had been continued and was had at Wichita, Kan., the continuance having been granted at the request of the solicitors of the appellant, upon the ground that they had not had sufficient time to prepare for the hearing.

■ We are of the opinion that no error was committed in overruling the objection to the hearing of the motion by Judge Pollock in the state of Kansas.

[2, 3] 2. Did the court err in acting on the motion after the expiration of the term at which the decree sought to be modified was rendered ?

The only modification of the decree sought and granted was to expunge the findings of fact included in the decree, reflecting on appellees. They were not parties to that action, were not present at the hearing, and did not know of these findings until a few days before they filed their motions. They first learned of it by publication in a newspaper and within a few days thereafter filed their motions. They certainly cannot be said to have been guilty of a lack of diligence. Not having been parties to that action, they were not chargeable, with constructive notice of the contents of the decree. Findings of fact have no place in a decree in a national court. Rule 71 of the present Equity Rules (33 Sup. Ct. xxxviii), a re-enactment of rule 86 of the former Equity Rules, promulgated March 2, 1842, prescribed the form, for decrees, [845]*845and although it does not in express terms prohibit the inclusion of findings of fact in the decree, it does so by necessary implication. Only, if it is necessary to make the decree more clear and specific, is it proper to include findings of fact in the decree. Putnam v. Day, 89 U. S. (22 Wall.) 60, 22 L. Ed. 764; McClaskey v. Barr (C. C.) 48 Fed. 130. There was no necessity for that in this decree.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
271 F. 838, 1921 U.S. App. LEXIS 1876, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-goldstein-ca8-1921.