United States v. Landrum

6 F. Cas. 816, 2 Flip. 212, 1878 U.S. App. LEXIS 1826
U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Kentucky·Decided July 10, 1878·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

BALLARD, District Judge.

In the case of U. S. v. Landrum, the warrant was issued at Louisville by a commissioner there, and it came to the hands of the marshal there. It directed the arrest of Landrum and the return of the warrant before another commissioner at London, in this state. It is not disputed that the marshal actually traveled to execute the warrant, the number of miles charged in this account, and it is not questioned that had the warrant been returned before the commissioner who issued it, the mileage charged would not be excessive; but it is insisted that “travel” or “mileage” is, by the terms of section S29 of the Revised Statutes, to be computed “from the place where the process is returned to the place of service;” that, as the prisoner was arrested near London and taken by command of the warrant before the commissioner in London, the warrant was, in contemplation of law, “returned” to him, and that the marshal can charge for going to serve the warrant for travel of only ten miles, this being the distance from the place where, under this view, the process was “returned” to the place of service. If the provisions of section 7 of the act of February 22. 1875 [18 Stat. 334]. apply to this case, it is clear that the charge of the marshal is not excessive. He asks no allowance for travel in going to serve the warrant, which was not actually and necessarily performed. But, as I am strongly inclined to think that the act of 1S75 does not alter the mode of computing the mileage of marshals on process executed within the judicial district in which such process is issued, I proceed to consider the question as if it depended entirely on the proper construction of section 829.

I am of the opinion that the commissioner in Louisville had no authority to make the warrant issued by him returnable before the commissioner in London, or before any other commissioner than himself. If it is conceded that he might direct the marshal to take the person before any other commissioner for examination, I suppose the process should be finally returned to himself. Every process which is issued by a court must be returned, unless some special statute otherwise provides, to the court which issues it. This is essential in order, first, that the court may know that its order has been obeyed: and, second, that the records of the court may be complete. The very term “return” implies that the process is taken back to the place whence it is issued. A thing delivered by one person to another is not “returned” when it is delivered to a sti-.mger, and at a place other than the place of original delivery. I am of the opinion, therefore, that, in contemplation of the statutes, every process is to be returned to the court or commissioner which issued it, and that for the purpose of computing the mileage of the marshal, the place of return is the place of issue.

Any other construction would enable commissioners to enlarge or lessen the fees of marshals at pleasure, and thus defeat the policy of the statute. Unquestionably the statute intends, as far as practicable, to furnish fixed rules for ascertaining the fees of marshals. Hence it lias declared that his “travel, in going * * * to serve any process [818] * * * shall be not the actual distance traveled, but the distance from one fixed point to another fixed point; that is, the distance from the place of service to the place whence the process was issued, or, which is the same thins, the place of return. But, if the commissioner can direct the warrant to be returned before another commissioner, he may direct it to be returned before a commissioner most remote from the “place of service,” and thus make the marshal’s fees for mileage ten or more times as much as they would be if the process were returnable before himself; if, indeed, for the purpose of computing mileage, we are not confined to the distance from the “place of service” to the place whence the process issued — that is, unless we regard the place of issue and place of return of process as one and the same place. I am of the opinion, therefore, that the objection taken by the attorney to the charge of the marshal in the case of Landrum, and in other similar cases, is not well taken.

The second exception raises the question whether the marshal can charge a fee for attending, by a “special bailiff, examinations before a commissioner, and bringing in, guarding and returning prisoners charged with crime,” etc. I am of the opinion that he may. I have heretofore decided, in case of Ex parte Roberts [Case No. 15,403], that a marshal may appoint a bailiff, and authorize him to perform a particular act or duty. When the bailiff is appointed and engaged in the performance of the act authorized he is the deputy of the marshal; not the general deputy, it is true, but the special deputy. He is deputied by the marshal to do a particular thing, and is, .therefore, in fact, as well as in law, his deputy. Section S29 of the Revised Statutes allows the marshal “for attending examinations before a commissioner, and bringing in, guarding and returning prisoners charged with crime, two dollars a day, and for each deputy, not exceeding two, necessarily attending, two dollars a day.”

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

United States v. Landrum, 6 F. Cas. 816, 2 Flip. 212, 1878 U.S. App. LEXIS 1826 (circtdky 1878).

6 F. Cas. 816 (United States v. Landrum) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Frohman v. Bonelli
204 P.2d 890 (California Court of Appeal, 1949)
Nixon v. United States
82 F. 23 (E.D. Tennessee, 1897)