The national Republican., 1866-12-18
LEGAL DECISION.
Tho Consitudaaalig II Ailitary Commissions lbl
the Trio d Citisps nst In Military
of Navll Service.
Majority and Dsss..t,.s opsnions or IN.
| Court.


In the Supreme Court yesterday the opin.
ion OF the court was delivered in the case Of
MlLLIoAS, BowLEs and HoRsEY, familiarly
known as the Indiana conspiracy case, in.
volving, among other questions, the consti.
tutionality Of military commissions for the
trial Of citizens not in. the military or naval
service. ss.L .sf- l.l7S ~ -, ..r g. go
The csss came up from Indiana on csr.
tifcste Of division OF opinion, under the act
Of lse2-the two judges sitting in the case
being unable 70 agree. e, .. ,f' ~ .-.r.
The certificate from the court below pre-.
sented three pointa, the first two having rel.
erence to the power Of the Circuit Court to
grant writs Of habeas corpus in this psrticu.
lar case. The third and important question
was the Jurisdiction Of military commission
to try and punish citisen not in the military
or naval service, for an offence committed in
the State Of Indiana, where the ordinary
courts Of justice were open and in the full
exercise Of their functions.
The Supreme Court unanimously affirmed
the Jurisdiction Of the Circuit Court to issue
the writs Of habeas corpus in these cases, and
denied the jurisdiction Of military commits.
sion to try a citizen under such circum.
stances. 90 5ss7ss rsr .r. frf 4-s. ~.
In the argument Of the case Mr.. GARrr,LD
opened with general and able argument
covering the whole ground, but the great
constitutional argument in the case wss
made by Ez-Attorney General BLACK. Mr..
DAVID DUDLEY FIELD, Of New York, also
discussed the whole case in an able and Law.
yer-like manner. On the part Of the Gov.
ernment, Attorney General SPEED and Gen.
B. F. BUTLER maintained the ultra doctrine
Of the power Of military commissions over
all such cases, "to save the life Of the M.
ton"
Hon. HENRY J. SrANBERY, special counsel
for the Government, confined himself chiefly
to the power Of the Supreme Court to re.
view proceeding in q circuit court, and
maintained, upon review Of all the authori-
ties, that the appellate jurisdiction Of the
Supreme Court upon certificate Of decision
Of opinion was, by the act of 1902, limited
to cases inter parties, and that proceeding
er parte, like that in q petition for habeas
corpus, was not within the purview Of the
said act. This position Of Mr.. SrAxBRRr was
also unanimously overruled by the opinion
delivered to-day.
The dissenting opinion delivered by Chief
Justice CHASE for himself and Justices
WAYNE, SwAYSE and MILLER, was devoted
chiefly to denying and controverting the
opinion of the majority Of the court upon
the third question certified from the court
below, namely, the jurisdiction Of military
commissions, which jurisdiction the opinion
of the majority denied under the provisions
Of the Constitution itself Tor the protection Of
the life, liberty and property OF the citizen,
while the Chief Justice and the brethren who
concurred with him, based their denial of such
Jurisdiction upon the absence of any con.
gressional legislation comforting it; main
tanning that the power to declare war and to
govern the army and navy and the militia
when in actual service, involved the power
to create military tribunals for the trial Of
citizens in such cases, even though the ordi.
nary courts Of law were open.
The opinion Of the court was delivered by
Mr.. Justice DAVIS, in the presence Of q
crowded court room.