National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1875-04-29
JUDGE BLATCHFORD's OPINION IN
DANA'S CASE

Judge BlatchfOrd' opinion in the "Mat-
ter of Charles A Dana on hd66d8 corpus"
contains the following brief statement of
Dana's discharge:
''In view of the fact that the act of 1901
gave to the Circuit Court of the District cogn!-
ZancC Of all crimes and offences committed
within the District, and also gave it all the
powers vested by law in the Circuit Courts of
the United States, and that the act of ISIS
Cmits to give to the Criminal Court established
by it the powers vested in the former Circuit
Court of the District in criminal matters, while
giving to it the Jurisdiction then held by the
said Circuit Court in the District in criminal
matters, it is impossible TO regard the word
jurisdiction covering all that would be COW
cred by the word powers"
And inasmuch as one of the justices of
the Supreme Court Of the District was
authorized to hold "a Criminal Court for
" the trial of all crimes and offences, and
which Criminal Court should possess the
"same pO1cerS and exercise the same juris-
" diciiOn then possessed and exercised by
&" the Criminal Court of the District, it
followed, he thought, that the Supreme
" Court of the District has no other powers
land no other jurisdiction in criminal
matters than the Criminal Court of the
/" District had when the act of 1858 was
"passed; no other powers and no other
Jurisdiction than were conferred upon it
"by the act of 1885"
Not stopping TO controvert the reasoning
or conclusions of the Judge, it will be suf-
ficient for the purpose of this article to sup
ply certain elements of judgment which
seem TO have escaped his research: First,
the third section of the act of Congress ap-
proved February 90. 1889, to amend the
act "to establish the Criminal Court in the
District of Columbia, enacts as follows:
That the judge Of the said court shall, out
{" of court, in all criminal matters and
breaches of the peace and good behavior,
have and exercise all the powers by law
" vested in the Circuit Court of the United
States, and the judges thereof and which
"were vested by the acts establishing the
" Circuit Court of the District of Columbia
" and judges of the same. IS Statutes at
Large, 800. Second, can act to revise and
" consolidate the Statutes of the United
DIdlIS, SSbSldl anu pSlnduCul III luSIE
" nature, relating to the District of Column
" bia, in force on the first day of Deem
" Der, in the year Of our Lord one thou
d" sand eight hundred and scventy-three,
approved June %, 1874, contains the fol-
lowing sections:
'tSec. 7CO. The Supreme Court shall possess
the same powers and exercise the same juris-
diction as the Circuit Courts of the United
States
''Sec. 7Gl. The justices of the Supreme
Court shall severally possess the powers and
exercise the jurisdiction possessed and exer-
ciscd Gy the Judges of Circuit Courts
''Sec. 162. ANY one of the justices may hold
a Criminal Court for the trial of all crimes and
offences arising within the District"
In view of these provisi ons of law, it is
hoped it will not be impertinent to suggest
to persons residing out Of the District that
it may be worth their attention to consider
whether it will comport with their safety
to dsobey subpPnas from the Supreme
Court of this District, upon faith in the pre-
cedent set in the case of Mr.. Dana.