The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1881-04-28

oiSueI nssM NutsWSlty 0nO 1Ofl8-
diction to grant the writ (',abeaS COR
pus) returnable before himself, and pro-
coed to the bearing and determination
of the ::abeas corpus"
On the petition Of Charles F. Buraick
on April 8, 1851, H. ID. Humiston made
An order, under seal Of the district
Cour--, directed to the Clerk Of the said
Court. commanding him to issue writ
Of l'abeas corpus, returIable before him
self, at the Court House. On April IL,
1881, in pursuance OF that order. tie fol-
lowing writ was issued and delivered.
not to the sheriff but to the attorney
for the relator, Emory Clark, who duly
served it on r. r. Miller:
STATE or MINNESOTA
COUNTY or MOBILES
District Court. Sixth Judicial District.
The State of Minnesota to II. r. Miller.
Sheriff of Mobiles County, Minnesota:
You are hereby commanded to have
the body Of Charles F. Burdick, by you
imprisoned and detained, rs it is said,
together with the time and cause Ut
such imprisonment and detention, by
wllatsoeve name the said Charles F.
Hurdick shall be called Or charged, b.
fore the Honorable H. ID. Hnmiston,
Court Commissioner of the District
Court, on Monday, April II, 1881. ut
two O'Clock p. m. at the Court House,
in the village Of Worthington. Mobiles
county, Minnesota, to do and receive
what shall then aud there be considered
concerning the said Charles F. Burlick.
And have you then and there this writ.
Witness the Honorable D. A. Dickin-
son, Judge of said District
(sEAI..] Court at Wortl,ington IN said
County, this 9th day Of April
Is. N. CARRIER. Clerk.
Sec. q, page ss7, Stat. Mimi, pro-
vides:
Such writ of habeas corpus shall not
be disobeyed for any defect of form.
Sec. So. page $40, provides:
If the writ is retu' nable at certain
day. such return shall he made, and
such prisoner produced, 1T the time and
place specified therein.
| Upon the constitutional provision
and the statute relating to the same, is
II. D. 11nmiston Court Commissioner of
the District Court? answer, Yes.
The statute designates the office as
Court Commissioner" no more, no
less. All his official acts are in the Dis
trict Court. The petition upon which
he issued this order, was entitled in the
District Court, he attached to 1t the
seat of the District Court, he came into
the court room Of the District Court to
try it, he took from the files of the Dis
trict Court the papers in the proceeding
and the Judgment to be entered will be
in the District Court. OF what is he
Commissioner if not the District Court :?
Certainly not the Supreme Court. Nor
Justice court nor Probate court, as
their judges are not required to be men
learned in the law. You might, with
equal propriety. say that district Judge
is not judge Of the District Court.
But admitting, for the sake of the ar
gument, that lie is not Court Commits
sioner of the District Court, still he has
Numbered.
The object of a writ of habeas corpus
is to compel the sheriff, or party on
whom it may be served, to produce the
body of the prisoner at the time and
place therein designated.
In obedience to this writ, Sheriff Mil
Ter produced the body of Burdick, with
his authority for imprisoning him, at
the time and place and before II. d. Hum
aston.
When lie had done this, the writ of
habeas corpus had accomplished its
purpose. If there was defect ''in mat
ter of substance" he had waived it and
no one except himself could object to the
form Of the writ. If the writ had been
directed to J. &. Ogle, and serred upon
r. Il. Miller, HITLER would have been
compelled to answer it.
Again, the Journal says: Submission
did all he could reasonably have done
III dismissing case on a writ which
was neither returnable to him nor anv
other officer of the law" You will oh.
serve from the writ that it ,cas return.
able before him.
Again, it says: IF you had read sec.
81, page 500, you would have found that
Humistcn had the right to dismiss Tie
case when the process is defective III
matter of substance Here is auoth-
| er Olunder.
The process referred to in this section
is the one under which the sheriff holds
or imprisons party, and not the writ
OF habeas corpus. Nor is this all. It
refers to ciril process alone, and if the
process is defective in matter of SUBJ
| stance. the prisoner must be DISCHARGED,
not the writ Of labeas corpus disreear-
ded.
! do not wisl, to be understood as i'm
pugning the motives of Mr.. Humiston.
| believe lie acted conscientiously in
the matter, but his advice WAS bad
There is tendency to introduce into
our courts sort of free-and easy, DON'T
care'a-cuss style of practice that should
be discOuntenanctd 1t tends to de-
grade our judiciary and bring it into
disrepute. In proceedings like these,
every act should be. like Caesars wife,
above reproach.
Pettifogging Should be discouraged.
The writ of habeas corpus is a writ Of
right which every person is entitled to
10 critic j1,stici0.
He is entitled not only to have the
writ ISSUED, but also to be heard unon
his petition, with all due haste. No
one can be prejudiced by it.
write this, not IN any spirit of cap
ti"usi:ess. but simply in explanation Of
the law and the facts of the case. do
not claim for myself exemption from
mistakes. There is hardly day of my
official life that l do not make them.
and no one is more willing to admit