National Republican., 1881-11-05
THE STAR ROUTES.
toontnuod from Fos, roocl ,

tCUntnUed from Fud Td0cl
Macsty's name But these informatons tof every
EiS are confined by The constitutional law to mere
inlsdcfnt anors only; for whenever any caphh OF
rusa,ion Ge warranted by The oath o twelve men be
fore the party shall be put to answcrit'
That, upprehend, correctly states not only tle |
law OF ENGLAND as Il was at the time, but the law
nf America rs II was at the time of the adoption ol
,ne SShStuSl9m Ino' m ,55c 5 constiiution the law
Mit Is here.
WE CLAIM THAT THIS COMMON LAW
passed over TO Us and was adopted WIN our N9n
stltutlon Now. rs to this question Oithe rgnt 10
file an information we were assured Ncsterdiay Dy
one OF the counsel on the other side tMr. WilsonL
TINT Our filing this information had nstounucd tne
entire Profession do not know whether he said
ofAmerica or ofthe District of Columbia hope
he said Of the District of Columbia for am bounn
to presume he spoke the truth ants hope, II
the bar Of the District OF Columbia were Us lghO-
rantas heosserts, that the could not maSo
the same statement Of the bar OF the whole
country, because the laws of the country thc
statutes Of the country the decisions Of the courts
formation repeatedly and beyond all question
refer Your Honor to certain acts OF Congrc;ss
passed upon that subject For instance, as early
provided
That person shall be pr2sGTntsd tried
punished for treason or other capital ouense hoIe
,9d w murder or forgery eNGGp1H Hhgsg TSnd nTy
bn tbrSr Sr e wears nSs aSr Re treason or capital
o1ense aforesaid shall be done or committed; nor nr
oSe not capital nor for any any 5e or STeqTe ar n
formation for the same shall be found or instituted
within two years from the time Of comml,.ng the Of
Here We find that rs carly MS 1890 In, think, the
first statute elimination passed amer the adoption
ofthe Constitution, there Is direct recognition oi
classes Of cases. Now, that provision passed
over into the Revised Statutes, sections 1913 aud
10i section 1913 relating TO the rst clause ol the
section Of the statute oflI0O, and corresponding TO
II, and providing
No person shall be prosecuted tried Or punished
fnf OfD MI
excepted unless the indictment is found within Three
done or committed.
Section 1914 provides:
No person shall he prosecuted, tried, or punished
ton i0i6 unless the Indictment ia found or the in
formation instituted within two years next aier such
HERE AGAIN WE HAVE
recognition Of the distinction between the classes
Of crimes aud an allowance OF the proceeding by
information In the one case, although u Is not
allowed in the other. This section l0ii was
amended in 1876 by changing the period of limit.
alton from two to three years, but Congress re-.
taned the language indictment or information
Again, we find that in the nct oil March &C. 1901, 1t
is declared:
arising under the revenue laws Of the United states or
r amy Sv ns he or ~ 3 Is
e aetmsnt @ n o. gGrmHtgn @ 6I @ iSuH ~ an!
Thus recognizing as 10 cases arising under the
revenue laws the right 70 proceed by iniorma'
tion. Something was said in the course OF the
have been
SOME SORT OF PROCEEDING BY INFORMATION
allowed in trivial cases, but we find ~ lSlS the
statute against the slave trade providing " TINT
any prosecution. information, or action, may be
sustained for any ohense under this act nt amy
been commiited." Now apprchcnd that nobody
considered that act rs relating to trivial cases
certainly no one would so consider il at this day.
Both these sections which have cited, that re.
lating To OfCnses under the revenue laws. and
that relating to oienscs under the act relating to
the slave trade were consolidated In section l0lO
OF the Revised Statutes which is the section re.
ferred to in the exception in section l0li, and
which reads:
No person shall be prosecuted, tried, or punished
for any crime Srspg m @ nISr ss ss H% r ht
dictnicf found or ths Information Is Instituted within
hve years next after the committing ofsuch crime.
Here again you. have a distinct, recognition
of procedure by Information. Again the civil
rights act of 1870, contained n provision express
that "all crimes and oiienscs committed agains
the provisions OF this act may be prosecuted by
the Indictment of n grand jury or in cases o.
crimes and oHenses not Infamous, the prosecution
may be either by indictment or Information filed
by the District Court having Jurisdiction" And
although portion of the civil rights act was held
ps nmGpIIThI na ., w. anTaoi dna sEe nao,fmu
tionulty of that section OF the act was never IN
any way disputed This section Is agnin re-enactet
in the Revised Statutes In the following form:
All crimes and ofrenses committed against the pro
visions of chapter T. title Crimes which not in
Information ion filed by district attorney ''''''
Aud finally section 1926 of the Revised Statute
provides tnht-
In every case In any court of the United State
where n demurrer is ihterposed TO an Indictment, q
G and HS T c%saS T soe1S tie % % sa
ycsDonMcIt olstcr' and therenpon trial may be O
dercd at the same term, Or a.contnuance may be o.
dcred Us Justice may require
THIS RE. .ESACTs THE ACT OF MAY %, 1872,
which was passed in consequence of the crcui
Judge in the city of New York having, after part
had dcmurred TO an Indictment under the rlec
ton laws, refused him leave to answer over ant
sent him to State prison. The act OF 1872 prOvidin
over, recognized expressly the right TO pro
coed by information. Not only that, but the de
cisons OF the courts are numerous to the effect thu
the right TO proceed by information does exs
The earliest case on the subject that have fOun
is that Of the United States, vs.; Mann, l Allison
reported twice ut pages and III The case aros
In 1872. where IL was held that the expectation
goods to II foreign country contrary to the embarg
act of 1909 was q misdemGnuOr and could be prOst
cuted by criminal information. The question WI
raised whether in this case the prosecution coul
he by criminal information, aud the same judg
upon whom the gentlemen upon the other side r.
lied so much in their argument yesterday, Judl
Story. the commentator upon the Constutio
was the man who made the decision, aud he he
that the proceeding could be by information. II
question raised in that case, am bound to say, W
not So much whether II must be by information
by indictment as IL was whether the net locked
u criminal proceeding; but criminal prOcecdil
by information having been taken Judge StO
upheld II. Now, the statute Of 1909 referred TO
this case contains this provision:
ina, all penalties and forleturcs incurred BY for
and ali penalties ma forfeiture org % Incurred by force
United states or by virtue OF the several acts 81
recovorSi by action oi;c6t, or by Indictment tOc or
formation, any law maie, or custom TO the contra
Notwithstanding.
MORE RECENTLY THERE HAVE nEES
aserics ofcases to which will briefly call 70
HonUrs attention, aud If they do not convince ~
that we have the right to file this information III
viii at least satisfy you that we are not those co
spimIOrs against tue pence of the people tBrat
being " the pGople'O, and against the institutio
of the country, which II was asserted yesterday ii
were In the case Of U; :, = M ys Mallin sawy
charge 20 the grand jury upon which the coun
upon the o;hCr side relied SO much yesterday h,
ali information filed by the District Atton
charging crime IN Introducing spirits into Alas
good, and he said this:
We are ofthe opinion that Rn information may
filed BY the District Attorney in behalf OF the Unit
States IN the national courts for msdemennOrs co
mitted against the laws of the United States.
He stated 1t broadly that the information c0u
be filed for misdemeunors committed against I
laws of the United States. From the statemt
nt the head Of the case II appears that there
an exception, that attention was called TO the co
situtiOnnl provision on the subject, and that ii
famous crimes aud misdemGAuOrs of course mi
be excepted, and therefore they would not col
within the language have cited. In that ease
indictment had been found and quashed, and h
passed from the record entirely, aud the Coz
said that there being urgent reason for spec
trlul. und no grand jury nt hand, the informant
could properly be filed. That was the opinion
Judge Field and Judge Sawyer cOncurted in Il
opinion, Again, In the case Of the United Sta
VS.. Block sawyer III, we find decision
Judge De0dy bearing on this question. He tn
allowed nM Information against bankrupt "
had omitted assets lrum his schedule, and HI
that at common law all misdcmgnnOrs could
proceeded against by Information and commend
that mode or procedure. And in the case
United States vs., Nuge, Law Reporter, 772, u c
arising in the southern District Oi New York
was held that the district attorney had the righ
proceed by information. The character Of
Naulp gnspi Is