The daily gazette., 1883-09-24
REpaINrEp FROM sATuRoAv
cOuRr TO-DAY.


An ImpOrtant Lipclhaen-Tns case sf Seal
vs.. BLACK end Mhsbks0wer of v State to-
Arrest n Citizen Of the United States
Court opened at O'Clock this morning
The case of Benjamin Seal sRaiH@ j. z.
Black, citixen 0f Pennhy ylvAnIa, came up
for argument this morning on q writ habeas
corpus. The facts are these /: Black was
arrested on q writ of cdpids ad resp0H dssht,
while passing through this State. Il. q.
Bradford, ESQ, his attorney, raised the point
before the court that as the Legislature
had repealed the law l@hieh allowed.
a debtor to arrest a creditor, who was a
citizen Of the State of Delaware, upon such
a writ, and bad not repealed, 1t as 70 . cred
itor who IA citizen of another State; that
therefore the arrest of Black, who was citi'
zen of PennsyIvania, was Illegal [ becaaIs It
was contrary to article 2, section 4 of the
Constitution Oh the United States which
guarantees to every citizen Of every state
the privileges and immunities Of the citizens
of every other State, and provides that 20
State shall pass law abrldginR the prtvip
leges and immunities df q catizep ef tue
United States.
The case ia Of very great Importance and
attracted the attention of large number of
lawyers, who listened with marked atten-
ton to the argument Of the counsel for the
plaintiff, Mr., Bradford cited law hearing
on similar cases back TO 1889 and held that
the right Of personal liberty was the thing
most to be protected, and closed after an
argument of three hours,
Mr. Lore, counsel for Seal, stated that he
had only been retained two days ago on
the case and as 1t was one of
grave importance, involving the right Of a
creditor In the State 10 arrest debtor living
in another State and asked that he be given
time to prepare an argument, This was OBJ
jected to by Mr.. Bradford, who stated that
there was no question In his mind, but that
the arrest was illegal and that HE client had
already been in jail for a month, and there
fore asked that the matter belsettled,at once
Mr.. Lore held that If Black was released
from this process it would give hip priv.
fIege not enjoyed by a'cftizen OF this State,
as In the one case afwrit being issued upon
a resident Of this State he would be com
pclled to appear at court, while on the othel
hand, process being issued 10 one outside
the courts jurisdiction, there would be nj
way to get the man to court without be
himself, would choose 10 come Of his owI
sweet will "As long as can remember,
said MIR. Lore, ''the law has Away
been that q non resident or 4 citi
zen of another State could b
arrested in this State should the needs re-
duire it" and further held that If the cOur
decided that the capiGs dd i'ldendl9n IN thii
case was illegal the act OF 1876 would nee
cessariy have to be declared void.
Mr. Bradford said "my learned frient
claims that the act of 1873 is valid and tina
the arrest is valid claim that the law 9
1875 is valid but that the arrest Is void;
and then at some length answered the couI
sci on the other side on the question of lay
in the matter.
Chiei Justice Comegys delivered the opiniC
which was the unanimous opinion Of IL
bench, that freedom from arrest is an In
munity and that no State has q right to pa
law to deprive any citizen of the right
free passage through that State, e
cept so tar as relates to the poll
cal government. No law that di
eliminates against man because he doesn
happen to be a resident of this State al
which conflicts with the 14th ammendmel
of the constitution, and that no State had
right to pass a law which interfered wit
the privileges and immunities of citizen
another State, and therefore ordered tn
the prisoner Black be released.
Levi c. Bird, Esq, counsel for the B. q
railroad, made application for commissi
IA be appointed by the Court to conder
certain properties owned by the Penns
vania railroad.
At 1.15 O'Clock Court adjourned until
O'Clock this afternoon.