Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1861-08-09

no political powers, aud claims none, and there.
fore fas we'll as for other reasons assignedj nc
court or judge can take cognizance Of the
political acts of the President, or undertake
to reYise and reverse his political decision.
The jurisdiction exercised under the writ oi
habeas corpus ia in the matter of an appeal
"a Or, 75], for as far as concerns the right oi
the prisoner, the whole object of the process
is 70 re. examine aud reverse or affirm the acts
of the person Who imprisoned him. And
thiuk it will hardly be seriously affirmed, that
a Judge, at Chamters, ea1 entertain an appeal,
in any form, from decision Of the President
of the United States, and especially 10 case
purely political.
There il but one sentence in all the Cons i
tuition which mentions the writ of habeas COR
pus-art. /, sec. 9, clause (which is in
these words
seThe privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall
not be suspended unless when, In cases ofrebelhon
or invasion, the public safety may require it,
Very learned persons have differed widely
about the meaning CT this short sentence, and
| am by no means confd ent that | fully IN
ders iaud it myself. The sententous language
OF the Constitution, iu this particular, must, 1
suppose, be interpreted with reference to the
origin of our people, their historical relations
to the mother country, and their Inchoate po-
liticai condition at the moment when our Con.
stitution was formed. At that time the Uni-
niied States, as nation, had no common law
of its owU, aud statutory provision for the
writ of habeas corpus. Still, the people, Eu-
glish by decent, even whils in open rebellion
against the English crown, claimed sort Of
hsor;cll right to the forms of English law
and the guarantees of English freedom. They
knew that the English G0yernme had more
than once, assumed the the p1wer to imprison
whom it would, and hold them, for an lndefi-
nite tine, beyond the reach of judicial exams
nation; and they desired, no doubt, to in;era
pose guard against the like abuses In this
country. And hence the clause of the Con-
stitution now under consideration. Bat we
must try to construe the words, vague and
indeterminats as they are, as we find them.
"Ibe prigoisgs of the writ of habeas corpus
shall moi be suspended. "&e. Does that mean
that the writ .self shall not be issued, or, that
being issued, the party shall derive 10 benefit
from itl Suspen1ed-does that mean deiayedl
hung up tor a time, or altogether denied j,
The writ of babeas eorpns- which w.l,f La
England there were many writs called by lhat
name, and used by tue Courts for the more
convenient exercise Of their various powers;
aud tur own Courts row, by acts Of Congress
the Judiciary act Of 1889, sec. II, ana the
act oE March 2, 1888, sec. 7--hage. i believe.
equiyslchl powers.
1t has been decided by the Supreme Court,
and doubt not eorreetly-see Bollman Swarts
weut's case 4 Or. 93)-that ''for the meaning
Of the term habeas coTpur, resort must be had
to the common law, but the power to awaId
the writ, by any of tie Courts of the United
States must be given by written law And
the Same high Gourt-judging, No doubt, by
the history of our people ana the circumstan :
ees of the times has also decided that the
writ OF babeas corpus mentioned in the Con-
stitution is the great writ ad sabjscieadum.
That writ, in its nature, action, and objects,
Is tersley and accurately described by Sir
William Blackstone. | adopt hls language, as
found in his Commentaries, Book 8, p. 131:
'But the great and eficacous writ, 10 all
manner of illegal comment, is that of hsteas
corpus ad subiiciendum, directed to the per,
son OBTAINING another and commanding him to
produce the body of the prisoner, with the day
and cause of his caption and detention, ad
fac,endum subjiciendum It recipiendum, to do,
submit to, aud receive whatsoever the Judge
or Court awarding such writ shall consider la
that behalf. This is high prerogative writ
and therefore by the commen law, issuing out
of the Court of Kings Bench, not only in term
time, but also duIing the vacation, by fat
from the Chief>Justice or any other of the
judges, aud running into all parts OF the
Kings dominions; for the King is at all
times entitled to have an account why the
liberty of any of his subjects is restrained,
wherever that restraint may Ee inflicted"
Such is the writ of habeas orpus, of which
the Constitution declares that the privilege
thereof shall not be suspended, except when,
il cases Of rebellion OF invasion the public
safety may require it. But the Constitution
is silent as to who may suspend il when the
contingency happens. am aware that it has
been declared by the Supreme Court, that s'if,
at any time, the public safety should require
the suspension of the powers vested by this
act (meaniug the judiciary act of 1856, sec.
tion 14) in the courts of the United States, it
is for the Legislature TO say so. That ques-
tion depends upon political considerations, on
wEich the Legislature is to decide Upon
this, remark only, that the Constitution is
older than the judiciary act, and yet it speaks
of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus
as thing in existence; it is in general terms.
and does not speak with particular reference to
powers which might or might not be granted
by future act of Congress. Besides, take
it for certain that in the common course of
legislation, Congress has power, at any tims,
to repeal the judiciary act Of 1889 aad the
act of 1888 (which grants to the courts aud
to the judges the power to issue the writs)
without waiting for rebellion or Invasion,
and consequent public necessity, to justify,
uuder the Constitution, the suspension of the