Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/306/19/
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 06:50:39+00:00

Document:
1. The United States has constitutional power to acquire land within the exterior limits of a State for a national park. P. 306 U. S. 23.
2. As a general rule, review of a determination of the District Court affirming its jurisdiction involving imprisonment for crime is by appellate procedure and not by habeas corpus. P. 306 U. S. 23.
This rule is not one defining power to grant the writ, but one which relates to the appropriate exercise of power. P. 306 U. S. 26.
3. Habeas corpus may be appropriately granted where jurisdiction in the criminal case depended upon a question of law, there being no dispute of facts, and where the need for the inquiry is made apparent by exceptional circumstances. P. 306 U. S. 27.
Such exceptional circumstances existed in this case, which involved a sentence by the District Court for murder committed in the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Park, in Georgia. There appeared to be uncertainty and confusion as to whether offenses within the Park were triable by the state or the federal courts. It was represented that murder cases had been tried in each. It did not appear of record that the District Court had considered the question of jurisdiction. There had been no appeal, and it was contended that a reading of the Georgia statute of consent and cession would show that the United States had not acquired jurisdiction so as to bring the offense charged in the indictment within the class of offenses cognizable in the District Court.
4. In habeas corpus by one imprisoned for a murder committed in the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Park in Georgia, the sole question was whether the United States had exclusive jurisdiction over land in the Park, in virtue of having acquired it by consent of or cession from the Georgia legislature.
(1) The federal courts take judicial notice of the Georgia statutes. P. 306 U. S. 23.
(2) If these statutes did not give to the United States exclusive jurisdiction over the Park, the indictment did not charge a crime cognizable under the authority of the United States. Id.
"which has been or may hereafter be acquired for custom-houses, post-offices, arsenals, other public buildings whatever, or for any other purposes of government,"
and which reserved the right to serve civil and criminal processes but not criminal jurisdiction over offenses within the ceded territory. P. 306 U. S. 28.
(4) This conclusion has support in administrative construction. P. 306 U. S. 29.
Referring to an opinion of the Judge Advocate General, July 14, 1930, when the Park was in charge of the War Department.
Certiorari, 305 U.S. 579, to review affirmance below of an order of the District Court denying a petition for a writ of habeas corps.
Petitioner was convicted, in 1933, in the District Court of the Northern District of Georgia, of murder committed in 1930 on the Government Reservation known as the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Park within the exterior limits of the State of Georgia. He was sentenced to imprisonment for life, and is confined in the prison at Alcatraz, California.
without opinion. On appeal, the order was affirmed. Bowen v. Johnson, 97 F.2d 860.
The principal contention before the Circuit Court of Appeals was that the United States did not have exclusive jurisdiction over the Park, and hence that the District Court in Georgia did not have jurisdiction to try the petitioner. The court, taking the view that the United States could constitutionally acquire jurisdiction over the Park (Collins v. Yosemite Park Co., 304 U. S. 518), held that the question whether the United States did acquire such jurisdiction could not be raised on habeas corpus. In view of the importance of the question thus presented, we granted certiorari. October 10, 1938, 305 U.S. 579.
First. Jurisdiction is conferred upon the District Courts "of all crimes and offenses cognizable under the authority of the United States." Jud.Code, § 24, 28 U.S.C. § 41(2).
"When committed within or on any lands reserved or acquired for the exclusive use of the United States, and under the exclusive jurisdiction thereof, or any place purchased or otherwise acquired by the United States by consent of the legislature of the State in which the same shall be, for the erection of a fort, magazine, arsenal, dockyard, or other needful building."
Crim.Code, § 272, 18 U.S.C. § 451, Third.
The last clause covers cases where exclusive jurisdiction is acquired by the United States pursuant to Article 1, § 8, paragraph 17, of the Constitution.
of Georgia, to-wit: Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Park, sometimes known as Chickmauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, in said State of Georgia."
The sole question was whether this Park was within the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States. There is no question that the United States had the constitutional power to acquire the territory for the purpose of a national park, and that it did acquire it. Whether or not the National Government acquired exclusive jurisdiction over the lands within the Park or the State reserved, as it could, jurisdiction over the crimes there committed, depended upon the terms of the consent or cession given by the legislature of Georgia. Collins v. Yosemite Park Co., supra, pp. 304 U. S. 529. See also James v. Dravo Contracting Co., 302 U. S. 134, 302 U. S. 146-148. The federal courts take judicial notice of the Georgia statutes. Owings v. Hull, 9 Pet. 607; Lamar v. Micou, 114 U. S. 218, 114 U. S. 223. If these statutes did not give to the United States exclusive jurisdiction over the Park, the indictment did not charge a crime cognizable under the authority of the United States.
268 U. S. 442, 268 U. S. 445. But if it be found that the court had no jurisdiction to try the petitioner, or that in its proceedings his constitutional rights have been denied, the remedy of habeas corpus is available. Ex parte Lange, 18 Wall. 163, 85 U. S. 178; Ex parte Crow Dog, 109 U. S. 556, 109 U. S. 572; In re Snow, 120 U. S. 274, 120 U. S. 285; Ex parte Coy, 127 U. S. 731, 127 U. S. 751, 127 U. S. 758; Hans Nielsen, Petitioner, 131 U. S. 176, 131 U. S. 182; In re Bonner, 151 U. S. 242, 151 U. S. 257; Moore v. Dempsey, 261 U. S. 86, 261 U. S. 91; Johnson v. Zerbst, 304 U. S. 458, 304 U. S. 467.
question involved, we drew the distinction between the question of the jurisdiction of the District Court in that aspect and that of the jurisdiction of the United States. Louie v. United States, 254 U. S. 548, 254 U. S. 550. There, on a charge of murder committed within the limits of an Indian reservation, the defendant contended that, before the time of the alleged crime, he had been declared competent, and that the land on which the crime was alleged to have been committed "had been allotted and deeded to him in fee simple." "That the District Court . . . had jurisdiction to determine whether the locus in quo was a part of the reservation was not questioned," and the judgment was held to be reviewable by the Circuit Court of Appeals, and not directly by this Court. See also Pronovost v. United States, 232 U. S. 487; Pothier v. Rodman, 261 U. S. 307, 261 U. S. 311.
"whether the locus of the alleged crime was within the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States demands consideration of many facts and seriously controverted questions of law,"
"Whether the location of the alleged crime was upon the high seas and exclusively within the jurisdiction of the United States required consideration of many facts and seriously controverted questions of law, including the alleged error involving the jurisdiction of the court."
"that, because a federal court tries a prisoner for an ordinary common law offense, as burglary, assault and battery, or larceny, with no averment or proof of any offense against the United States, or any connection with a statute of the United States, and punishes him by imprisonment, that he cannot be released by habeas corpus because the court which tried him had assumed jurisdiction."
Despite the action of the trial court, the absence of jurisdiction may appear on the face of the record (see In re Snow, supra; Ex parte Hans Nielsen, Petitioner, supra, p. 131 U. S. 183) and the remedy of habeas corpus may be needed to release the prisoner from a punishment imposed by a court manifestly without jurisdiction to pass judgment.
power to issue a writ of habeas corpus when it appears that nevertheless the trial court was without jurisdiction. The rule is not one defining power, but one which relates to the appropriate exercise of power. It has special application where there are essential questions of fact determinable by the trial court. Rodman v. Pothier, supra. It is applicable also to the determination in ordinary cases of disputed matters of law whether they relate to the sufficiency of the indictment or to the validity of the statute on which the charge is based. Id.; Glasgow v. Moyer, supra; Henry v. Henkel, supra. But it is equally true that the rule is not so inflexible that it may not yield to exceptional circumstances where the need for the remedy afforded by the writ of habeas corpus is apparent. Among these exceptional circumstances are those indicating a conflict between state and federal authorities on a question of law involving concerns of large importance affecting their respective jurisdictions. In re Lincoln, 202 U. S. 178, 202 U. S. 182-183; Henry v. Henkel, supra, pp. 228-229.
within the class of offenses cognizable in the District Court, we think that it was within the province of the court to which the application for habeas corpus was made to examine the question and to issue the writ in case the claim of want of jurisdiction in the trial court was found to be a valid one.
Third. Our examination of the Georgia statutes leads to the conclusion that it is unnecessary to remand the case for the determination of the District Court, but that it may be, and should be, disposed of at once by our decision.
thereon, except land and such other property as the general government may desire for its use, and that the property belonging to persons residing within said ceded territory shall be liable to State and county taxes, the same as if they resided elsewhere, and that citizens of this State in said ceded territory shall retain all rights of State suffrage and citizenship. . . ."
"which has been or may hereafter be acquired for custom-houses, post-offices arsenals, other public buildings whatever, or for any other purposes of government."
Georgia Laws, 1927, p. 352. This Act reserved the right to serve civil and criminal processes, but not criminal jurisdiction over offenses within the ceded territory.
United States over that part of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park located within the State of Georgia,"
and that violations of law occurring on the ceded lands are enforceable only by the proper authorities of the United States. As this administrative construction is a permissible one, we find it persuasive and we think that the debated question of jurisdiction should be settled by construing the Act of 1927 in the same way.
Criminal Code, § 272, Third, 18 U.S.C. § 451.
26 Stat. 827, 36 Stat. 1157, Jud.Code, § 238.
Georgia Laws, 1893, p. 110; 1895, p. 77; 1901, p. 85; 1902, p. 110.
Transferred to the National Parks Service, Department of the Interior by Executive Order No. 6166, June 10, 1933.

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