Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/131/280/
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 03:54:30+00:00

Document:
When a judgment of a circuit or district court of the United States is attacked collaterally, every intendment will be made in support of jurisdiction unless the want of it, either as to subject matter or as to parties, appears in some proper form, and this general rule applies to judgments punishing for contempt.
A petitioner for a writ of habeas corpus to obtain his discharge from imprisonment under the judgment and sentence of a district or circuit court of the United States for contempt is at liberty to allege and to prove facts not contradicting the record which go to show that the court was without jurisdiction.
Petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The writ was refused, and the petitioner appealed. The case is stated in the opinion.
This is an appeal from a final judgment in the Circuit Court of the United States for the Southern District of California denying an application for a writ of habeas corpus.
of commitment based upon a pretended judgment of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of California adjudging him guilty of contempt of court and sentencing him to six months' imprisonment in jail.
The petition purports to set out all the minutes, records, and files of the court in the proceedings for contempt, from which it appears that on the 12th day of February, 1889, the case of United States v. W. More Young coming on regularly for trial, a jury was ordered to be drawn and impaneled; that the names of twelve jurors were regularly drawn from the box, and they were sworn on their voir dire; that among the names so drawn was that of Robert McGarvin, who, being asked upon his examination if he had been approached or spoken to by anyone about the above case, replied that he had been approached and spoken to about it by the appellant Cuddy; that upon the testimony thus adduced, the court made an order directing a citation to be issued forthwith, requiring appellant to appear before the court on the next day to show cause why he should not be punished for contempt, and that such citation was accordingly at once issued.
said case in the event that he should be sworn to try the said action; and"
"Whereas, from the testimony, this Court, on the said 12th day of February, 1889, entered an order directing the said Thomas J. Cuddy to show cause before this Court at the court room thereof at 10 o'clock, on the 13th day of February, 1889, why he should not be adjudged guilty of a contempt this Court; and"
"Whereas, in response to said citation, said Thomas J. Cuddy did, on the said 13th day of February, 1889, appear before the said court; and"
"Whereas testimony was then and there introduced in respect to the matter both for and against him,"
"The court, having duly considered the testimony, does now find the fact to be that the said Thomas J. Cuddy did, upon the 11th day of February, 1889, approach the said Robert McGarvin at the time being a term trial juror duly impaneled in this court with the view to improperly influence the said McGarvin's action in the case of the United States of America against the said Young in the event the said McGarvin should be sworn as a juror in said action."
"Now, it is here adjudged by the court that the said Thomas J. Cuddy did thereby commit a contempt of this Court, for which contempt it is now here ordered and adjudged that the said Thomas J. Cuddy be imprisoned in the county jail of the County of Los Angeles for the period of six months from this date, and the marshal of this district will execute this judgment forthwith."
"was convicted of a contempt of the said court, committed on the 11th day of February, 1889 at the City of Los Angeles, County of Los Angeles, California, and within the jurisdiction of said court."
do not constitute any contempt of court provided for by § 725 of the Revised Statutes of the United States; (2) for the reason that the proceedings in said court were insufficient to give the court jurisdiction to proceed to judgment in said matter; (3) for the reason that said judgment is void because not based or founded upon any proceedings in due course of law."
This is the whole case, as made by the petition for the writ of habeas corpus.
Although the testimony given on the hearing of the question of contempt was taken down by a stenographer under oath, no part of it except the evidence of McGarvin, the substance of which is recited in the above order, appears in the transcript.
We are unable from the record before us to say that the circuit court erred in denying the application for the writ of habeas corpus. The statute requires the application for a writ of habeas corpus to set forth "the facts concerning the detention of the party restrained, in whose custody he is detained, and by virtue of what claim or authority, if known." Rev.Stat. § 754. The return must specify the true cause of detention, and the petitioner, or the party imprisoned, "may deny any of the facts set forth in the return, or may allege any other facts that may be material in the case." Such denials or allegations must be under oath, and amendments may be made, with leave of the court, "so that thereby the material facts may be ascertained," and the matter disposed of "as law and justice require." Rev.Stat. §§ 757, 760, 761.
building and while the court was in session, whereas the misbehavior with which Cuddy is charged did not occur in the court building nor, so far as the record of the district court shows, while the court was in session. It was assumed in argument that under no view of the facts could the misbehavior of Cuddy be deemed to have occurred in the presence of the court or so near thereto as to obstruct the administration of justice, and therefore his offense, if punishable at all, was punishable only by indictment. But both the petition for habeas corpus and the record of the district court are silent as to the particular locality where the appellant approached McGarvin with a view of improperly influencing his actions in the event of his being sworn as a juror in the case of United States v. Young. That which, according to the finding and judgment, the appellant did, if done in the presence of the court -- that is, in the place set apart for the use of the court, its officers, jurors, and witnesses -- was clearly a contempt punishable, as provided in § 725 of the Revised Statutes, by fine or imprisonment at the discretion of the court, and without indictment. Savin, Petitioner, ante, 131 U. S. 267.
"The courts of the United States are all of limited jurisdiction, and their proceedings are erroneous if the jurisdiction be not shown upon them. Judgments rendered in such cases may certainly be reversed, but this Court is not prepared to say that they are absolute nullities which may be totally disregarded."
"proceeds upon an incorrect view of the character and jurisdiction of the inferior courts of the United States. They are all of limited jurisdiction, but they are not on that account inferior courts in the technical sense of those words, whose judgments, taken alone, are to be disregarded. If the jurisdiction be not alleged in the proceedings, their judgments and decrees are erroneous, and may, upon a writ of error or appeal, be reversed for that cause. But they are not absolute nullities."
"It is undoubtedly true that a superior court of general jurisdiction, proceeding within the general scope of its powers, is presumed to act rightly. All intendments of law in such cases are in favor of its acts. It is presumed to have jurisdiction to give the judgments it renders until the contrary appears. And this presumption embraces jurisdiction not only of the cause or subject matter of the action in which the judgment is given, but of the parties also."
The general rule that, unless the contrary appears from the record, a cause is deemed to be without the jurisdiction of a circuit or district court of the United States -- their jurisdiction being limited by the Constitution and acts of Congress -- has no application where the judgments of such courts are attacked collaterally. Unless, therefore, the want of jurisdiction as to subject matter or parties appears in some proper form, every intendment must be made in support of the judgment of a court of that character. The district courts of the United States, invested with power to punish without indictment and by fine or imprisonment at their discretion contempts of their authority, are nonetheless superior courts of general jurisdiction, because the statute declares that such power to punish contempts "shall not be construed" to extend to any cases except misbehavior in the presence of the court, misbehavior so near thereto as to obstruct the administration of justice, and disobedience or resistance to its lawful writ, process, order, rule, decree, or command. Rev.Stat. § 725. The only effect of this limitation is to narrow the field for the exercise of their general power as courts of superior jurisdiction to punish contempts of their authority.
him, is a question upon which it is not necessary to express an opinion.

References: v. 
 § 725
 § 754
 v. 
 § 725
 § 725