The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-12-01

J.. Judge De Bolt released Blanche Mer
: tens lin former report given from TIT
petition as MARTINI under a writ o
| habeas corpus yesterday. According u
| the law as he finds it a John Doe OIL
) tanning clear description of the sub
ject for identification, is illegal. The
decision here follows:
This is a petition by Blanche Mer-
tens for writ OF habeas corpus.
Petitioner alleges that she is ulllaw-
fully restrained of her liberty and i'm
| prisoned by a. Nj. Brown, as Sheriff
of the County of Oahu, in violation OF
| the Fourth Amendment to the Con-
! stitution of the United States, in that
| neither the complaint nor the warrant
| of arrest name or otherwise describe
| the petitioner or any person.
| The petitioner was arrested upon the
warrant herein, issued for the arrest
| of Jane Doe The complaint made
and sworn to before the District Ma
| gistrate, upon which the warrant was
| based, charges THAT one Jane Doe,
/ whose true name to your affiant is I'M
known, but identity known, did," etc.
Petitioner says her name is not Jane
Doe, and that she has never been
known by or called that name.
The complaint and warrant of arrest
are upon one and the same paper, and
must be read and construed together.
2 Ency. Pl. & Pr. 1918. st. V. Coy
cite, IL r. I. 1892; Com. V. Leonard, 8
Gray 2S3.
Counsel for petitioner urges that,
upon the record and facts as disclosed
by the testimony and admissions made,
the warrant of arrest is absolutely void
and that petitioner is entitled to her
discharge. In my opinion this conten-
ton is sound beyond question.
The warrant is clearly void upon its
face. and an officer executing ii does
SO at his peril. The law places a war
rant of arrest in the hands of an Of
ficer to serve as his guide and for his
protection. and also that the person
upon whom it is to be executed may
know the authority of the officer and
his own rights and duties in the prem
ises. The chief purpose of the war
rant, however. is to point out, desig-
nate and distinguish from all others a
particular person by name, or other
sufficient description so that the Of
ficer may execute it safely and proper
ly /
TT is of the essence of a warrant
that it should be SO framed that the
officer should know whom he is to take,
and that the party upon whom it is |
executed should know whether he is !
bound to submit to the arrest.''-22 |
Ency. Pl. & Pr, 1876.
If the warrant upon its face does |
not lead or direct the officer to par |
ticular person it is void.
AT common law an officer cannot |
justify the arrest of a person by a |
wrong name, even though he is the
person intended, unless it is shown that
he is known as well by the one name
as by the other. Where,
however, the name given in the war
rant is a fictitious one, it must be ac-
companied by a description of the Of
fender sufficient to identify him, and
a warrant which does not contain a
sufficient description is void Ency.
Pl. & Pr. 1888; Com. V. Crotty, 10 Al
len 403; Church, Habeas Corpus, Secs.
274-6
Where the name of the accused is
unknown this fact should be stated in
the warrant, and he should be describ-
ed as accurately as possible by a state
ment of his personal appearance, his
occupation. his place of residence or =
labor, his recent history, other cir
sufficient to identify him.
% Ency. Pl. & Pr. 1077.
The warrant in question is nothing :
more nor less than a. general warrant
under which the officer at his discre- ,
ton or caprice, according as his pleas
IRE or malice might dictate could ar
rest any person. This class of war
rants the revolutionary patriot Otis :
pronounced 1.-The worst intrument of =
arbitrary power, the most destructive =
IF English liberty and the fundamental
principles of law, that ever was found +
IN an English law book: since they r
placed the liberty of every man in the I
hands of every petty officer 2
In the execution of a warrant an Of T
icer has no discretion as to the person
Upon whom it is to be executed, if the
rights of the citizen are
o be observed and protected The of
icer is bound by the directions con- '
aimed in the warrant, and he must i
execute it upon the person therein r
FAMED and none other. If no person is
named or otherwise sufficiently de-
'cribed or identified in and by the
warrant, then it cannot be executed;
t is void
AN officer, in executing a warrant
# arrest, must arrest the person named =
herein. in order to be justified, and :.
10 other.
This rule is so infiexible that the =
'fficer will not ordinarily be excused :.
where, through mistake. a person of -
he same name as that in the warrant ,
c arrested by him. Ency. Law,
ass.
AT the common law. a warrant for 9
he arrest of a person charged with :,
rhine must truly name him. or de-
cribe him sufficiently to identify him =