The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-10-28

the Court of Appeals Of this State in
one of the most important cases ever
decided by that tribunal
The Constitution Of the United States,
in Section of Article ". SAYS:
a person charged in any State with treason.
felony or other crime. who shall flee nom justice.
and be found In another state shall on demand Of
the executive authority OF the State from which he
fed. he delivered up. to he removed to the State
having jurisdiction of the crime"
In the case to which we refer the de-
PENDANT was accused of having COM
mitted the crime of larceny and false
pretenses in the State Of Tennessee,
and of having fled that State and taken
refuge in the State of New York. Upon
these allegations the Governor of New
York issued warrant for his arrest, to
the end that he might be delivered up
to the authorities Of the State Of Tenncs-
see. Habeas corpus proceedings were
instituted, and it appeared that the de-
PENDANT was not in the State of Tennessee
at the time when the alleged larceny
was committed, but was then actually
in the State of Maryland where he re-
sided. Upon these grounds he sought
to be discharged from custody under the
mandate of the Governor. In this effort
he was unsuccessful both AT the Special
Term Of the Supreme Court and at the
Appellate Division in Albany but the
Court of Appeals has now determined
that he cannot lawfully be held in this
State as fugitive from justice in Tenn
essee. masmuch as he was not present
in Tennessee at the time of the commis-
sion Of the alleged offences.
In short the Court Of Appeals decides
that the theory Of constructive crime is
not applicable to interstate extradition.
In other words the Governor of one
State is not authorized to deliver to the
Governor of another State "a person
charged with having committed a crime
therein, unless it is made to appear that
the accused person was corporeally
present in the demanding State at the
time when the alleged crime was COM
mitted there.
This principle, now for the first time
authoritatively laid down by the highest
court in this State, has always been
maintained by THE SrN. Its application
in cases of alleged libel where efforts
have frequently beenmade to arrest and
transport an editor half way across the
continent in order to try him for publ
cation made at his own home. is obvious.
Such attempts to interfere with the free
dom of the press and the liberty of the
citizen were frequently made against
the late CHARLES A. DANA in his lifetime,
and were always resisted by him with
triumphant success. The most notable
of these successes was that achieved
in the case heard by the late SAMUEL
BLATcHrORD. when District Judge Of
the United States in this city, before his
promotion to the bench of the Supreme
Court at Washington. The decision
then made by that great Judge finds its
fitting complement and supplement in
the opinion Of the Court of Appeals
which We lay before our readers to-day.
The author of that opinion is Judge
EDGAR NJ CULLEN Of Brooklyn, whose
mastery exposition Of the law and sturdy
assertion of the principle to which bis
reasoning leads, furnish fine example
Of the best style OF judicial writing. No
evidence is needed Of the fitness of Judge
CULLEN for the highest judicial office
that can be conferred upon lawyer;
but this opinion emphasizes in the clear
est manner the desirability of giving him
a permanent place in the court to which
his presence now brings so much strength,
ability and dignity.