Source: http://openjurist.org/376/us/681
Timestamp: 2015-04-01 11:09:54
Document Index: 767263976

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1254', '§ 401', '§ 401', '§ 21', '§ 402', '§ 402', '§ 402', '§ 402', '§ 2', '§ 402', '§ 402']

376 US 681 United States v. R Barnett | OpenJurist
376 U.S. 681 - United States v. R Barnett	Home376 us 681 united states v. r barnett
376 US 681 United States v. R Barnett 376 U.S. 681
84 S.Ct. 984
12 L.Ed.2d 23
UNITED STATESv.Ross R. BARNETT et al.
Argued Oct. 21 and 22, 1963.
See 377 U.S. 973, 84 S.Ct. 1642.
This proceeding in criminal contempt was commenced by the United States upon the specific order, sua sponte, of the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. oss R. Barnett, Governor of the State of Mississippi at the time this action arose,1 and Paul B. Johnson, Jr., Lieutenant Governor, stand charged with willfully disobeying certain restraining orders issued, or directed to be entered, by that court. Governor Barnett and Lieutenant Governor Johnson moved to dismiss, demanded a trial by jury and filed motions to sever and to strike various charges. The Court of Appeals, being evenly divided on the question of right to jury trial, has certified the question2 to this Court under the authority of 28 U.S.C. § 1254(3), 330 F.2d 369. We pass only on the jury issue and decide that the alleged contemners are not entitled to a jury as a matter of right.
The First Congress in the Judiciary Act of 1789 conferred on federal courts the power 'to punish by fine or imprisonment, at the discretion of said courts, all contempts of authority in any cause or hearing before the same * * *.' 1 Stat. 83. It is undisputed that this Act gave federal courts the discretionary power to punish for contempt as that power was known to the common law. In re Savin, 131 U.S. 267, 275—276, 9 S.Ct. 699, 701, 33 L.Ed. 150 (1889). In 1831, after the unsuccessful impeachment proceedings against Judge Peck,3 the Congress restricted the power of federal courts to inflict summary punishment for contempt to misbehavior 'in the presence of the said court, or misbehavior so near thereto as to obstruct the administration of justice,' misbehavior of court officers in official matters, and disobedience or resistance by any person to any lawful writ, process, order, rule, decree, or command of the courts. Act of March 2, 1831, c. 99, 4 Stat. 487, 488. These provisions are now codified in 18 U.S.C. § 401 without material difference.4 The Court of Appeals proceeded in this case under the authority of this section.
The alleged contemners claim, however, that the powers granted federal courts under § 401 were limited by the Congress in 1914 by the provisions of §§ 21, 22 and 24 of the Clayton Act, 38 Stat. 738—740, now codified as 18 U.S.C. §§ 402 and 3691. These sections guarantee the right to a jury trial in contempt proceedings arising out of disobedience to orders 'of any district court of the United States or any court of the District of Columbia,' provided that the conduct complained of also constitutes a criminal offense under the laws of the United States or of any State. But the Clayton Act further provides that the requirement of a jury does not apply to 'contempts committed in disobedience of any lawful writ, process, order, rule, decree, or command entered in any suit or action brought or prosecuted in the name of, or on behalf of, the United States, but the same, and all other cases of contempt not specifically embraced in this section may be punished in conformity to the prevailing usages at law.' 18 U.S.C. § 402. Rule 42(b) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure thereafter set down the procedural requirements for all contempt actions, providing that '(t)he defendant is entitled to a trial by jury in any case in which an act of Congress so provides.'
Next it is contended that the Court of Appeals had no jurisdiction in the matter since its mandate had been issued and the case had been remanded to the District Court.5 On a certificate we do not pass on alleged irregularities in the proceedings in the court below, as such contentions are clearly premature.6
The alleged contemners next assert that § 402 is applicable. They urge that since § 402 gives a jury trial to those charged with contempt in 'any court of the District of Columbia,' this would include the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. They argue from this that the section must be constru d to apply to all other Courts of Appeals to avoid manifest discrimination which the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment prohibits and to comply with the Privileges and Immunities Clause of Art. IV, § 2 of the Constitution. We are not persuaded. At the time that the Clayton Act was adopted, the trial court of general jurisdiction in the District of Columbia was known as the 'Supreme Court of the District of Columbia' rather than the United States District Court. Moreover, there were also inferior courts there known as the municipal and police courts and now called the 'District of Columbia Court of General Sessions.' Since none of these trial courts of the District would have been included in the designation 'any district court of the United States,' the insertion of 'any court of the District of Columbia' was necessary to adapt the bill to the judicial nomenclature of the District of Columbia. It is hardly possible to suppose that the House, where this phrase was inserted without explanation, was somehow by this language reversing the decision to exclude appellate courts from the jury requirements.7 This is shown by the legislative history of the bill when discussed in the Senate, 51 Cong.Rec. 14414, where it was made explicit that the bill 'applies * * * only to orders of the district courts; contempts of orders of all other courts must be had as now.'
Nor can we conclude from the record here that the show-cause order directed by the Court of Appeals to the alleged contemners must be construed as being founded upon violations of the District Court's injunction of September 13, entered upon the specific order of the Court of Appeals. The show-cause order specifies that three injunctions were violated, i.e., the original one of the Court of Appeals of July 28 directing Meredith's admission; the District Court's aforesaid order of September 13 which generally embodied the same terms; and the injunction of September 25 directed at the alleged contemners. The claim is, first, that the District Court's order of September 13 superseded the earlier Court of Appeals order of July 28, and that the September 25 order of the Court of Appeals was without significance since it added nothing to the earlier orders except to specifically name the alleged contemners. But it can hardly be said that there was a supersession, since the July 28 order specifically retained jurisdiction. Nor is the September 25 order of no significance, as it is the principal order upon which the alleged contemners' contemptuous conduct is predicated. Moreover, it may be that on trial the Court of Appeals will limit the charge to its own orders. Secondly, it is said that, since the contempt motion includes an order of the District Court, the requirements of § 402 and 3691 make a jury necessary. It would be anomalous for a Court of Appeals to have the power to punish contempt of its own orders without a jury, but to be rendered impotent to do so when the offensive behavio happens to be in contempt of a District Court order as well. We are unable to attribute to Congress an intent to award favored treatment to a person who is contemptuous of two or three orders instead of only one.8
Finally, it is urged that those charged with criminal contempt have a constitutional right to a jury trial.9 This claim has been made and rejected here again and again. Only six years ago we held a full review of the issue in Green v. United States, 356 U.S. 165, 78 S.Ct. 632, 2 L.Ed.2d 672 (1958). We held there that '(t)he statements of this Court in a long and unbroken line of decisions involving contempts ranging from misbehavior in court to disobedience of court orders establish beyond peradventure that criminal contempts are not subject to jury trial as a matter of constitutional right.' At 183 of 356 U.S., at 643 of 78 S.Ct., 2 L.Ed.2d 672. Nor can it be said with accuracy that these cases were based upon historical error. It has always been the law of the land, both state and federal, that the courts—except where specifically precluded by statute—have the power to proceed summarily in contempt matters. There were, of course, statutes enacted by some of the Colonies which provided trivial punishment in specific, but limited, instances. Some statutes concerned the contempt powers of only certain courts or minor judicial officers. Others concerned specific offenses such as swearing in the presence of officials or the failure of a witness or juror to answer a summons.
But it cannot be said that these statutes set a standard permitting exercise of the summary contempt power only for offenses classified as trivial. Indeed, the short answer to this contention is the Judiciary Act of 1789 which provided that the courts of the United States shall have power to 'punish by fine or imprisonment, at the discretion of said courts, all contempts of authority in any cause or hearing before the same.'10 It will be remembered that this legislation was enacted by men familiar with the new Constitution. Madison urged passage of the act in the House and five of the eight members of the Senate Committee which recommended adoption, were also delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787. 1 Annals of Congress 18, 812—813. It is also asserted that a limitation upon the summary contempt power is to be inferred from the fact that subsequent statutes of some of the States had limitation provisions on punishment for contempts. But our inquiry concerns the standard prevailing at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, not a score or more years later. Finally, early cases have been ferreted out, but not one federal case has been found to support the theory that courts, in the exercise of their summary contempt powers, were limited to trivial offenses.11 On the contrary, an 1801 opinion in the case of United States v. Duane, 25 Fed.Cas. page 920, No. 14,997, had this significant language:
Following this holding we have at least 50 cases of this Court that support summary disposition of contempts, without r ference to any distinction based on the seriousness of the offense. We list these in the margin.12 It does appear true that since 1957 the penalties imposed in cases reaching this Court have increased appreciably. But those cases did not settle any constitutional questions as to the punishment imposed.
And with reference to state cases, it is interesting to note that the State of Mississippi has recognized and enforced summary punishment for contempt for over 100 years under the authority of Watson v. Williams, 36 Miss. 331 (1858), a celebrated case that has been cited with approval in many state jurisdictions as well as in cases of this Court. See Ex parte Terry, 128 U.S. 289, 303, 9 S.Ct. 77, 79, 32 L.Ed. 405 (1888), and In re Debs, 158 U.S. 564, 595, 15 S.Ct. 900, 910, 39 L.Ed. 1092 (1895). And just one year before we decided Green, supra, Mississippi specifically approved, in Young v. State, 230 Miss. 525, 528, 93 So.2d 452 (1957), its previous holding that the 'overwhelming weight of authority is that in such cases (contempt) they (the defendants) were not entitled to a jury trial.' O'Flynn v. State, 89 Miss. 850, 862, 43 So. 82, 83, 9 L.R.A.,N.S., 1119.13
We will make specific reference to only a few of the federal cases. as early as 1812 this Court held that '(c)ertain implied powers must necessarily result to our Courts of justice from the nature of their institution. * * * To fine for contempt—imprison for contumacy—inforce the observance of order * * *.' Mr. Justice Johnson in United States v. Hudson & Goodwin, 7 Cranch 32, 34, 3 L.Ed. 259. In the case of In re Savin, supra, 131 U.S. at 276, 9 S.Ct. at 701, 33 L.Ed. 150, the first Mr. Justice Harlan writing for the Court said: '(W)e do not doubt that the power to proceed summarily for contempt in those cases (in presence of court, in official transactions and in resistance to lawful process), remains, as under the act of 1831 * * *. It was, in effect, so adjudged in Ex parte Terry (supra, 128 U.S. at 304, 9 S.Ct. at 79, 32 L.Ed. 405).' And in Eilenbecker v. District Court, 134 U.S. 31, 10 S.Ct. 424, 33 L.Ed. 801 (1890), a contempt was based on the violation of a court order. Mr. Justice Miller said:
'If it has ever been understood that proceedings according to the common law for contempt of court have been subject to the right of trial by jury, we have been unable to find any instance of it. It has always been one of the attributes—one of the powers necessarily incident to a court of justice—that it should have this power of vindicating its dignity, of enforcing its orders, of protecting itself from insult, without the necessity of calling upon a jury to assist it in the exercise of this power.' At 36 of 134 U.S., at 426 of 10 S.Ct., 33 L.Ed. 801
'Nor is there * * * any invasion of the constitutional right of trial by jury. * * * (T)he power of a court to make an order carries with it the equal power to punish for a disobedience of that order, and the inquiry as to the question of disobedience has been, from time immemorial, the special function of the court. And this is no technical rule. In order that a court may compel obedience to its orders, it must have the right to inquire whether there has been any disobedience thereof. To submit the question of disobedience to another tribunal, be it a jury or another court, would operate to deprive the proceeding of half its efficiency.' At 594—595 of 158 U.S., at 910 of 15 S.Ct., 39 L.Ed. 1092.
Finally, Mr. Justice utherland in Michaelson v. United States, 226 U.S. 42, 45 S.Ct. 18, 69 L.Ed. 162 (1924), in upholding the constitutionality of the sections of the Clayton Act contained in 18 U.S.C. §§ 402 and 3691, said that these provisions were of
'* * * narrow scope, dealing with the single class where the act or thing constituting the contempt is also a crime in the ordinary sense. It does not interfere with the power to deal summarily with contempts committed in the presence of the court or so near thereto as to obstruct the administration of justice, and is in express terms carefully limited to the cases of contempt specifically defined. Neither do we think it purports to reach cases of failure or refusal to comply affirmatively with a decree—that is to do something which a decree commands * * * If the reach of the statute had extended to the cases which are excluded a different and more serious question would arise.' At 66 of 266 U.S., at 20 of 45 S.Ct., 69 L.Ed. 162. (Emphasis supplied.)
It is true that adherence to prior decisions in constitutional adjudication is not a blind or inflexible rule. This Court has shown a readiness to correct its errors even though of long standing. Still, where so many cases in both federal and state jurisdictions by such a constellation of eminent jurists over a century and a half's span teach us a principle which is without contradiction in our case law, we cannot overrule it. The statement of the High Court of Errors and Appeals of Mississippi 105 years ago in Watson v. Williams, supra, is as true and perhaps even more urgent today:14
'The power to fine and imprison for contempt, from the earliest history of jurisprudence, has been regarded as a necessary incident and attribute of a court, without which it could no more exist than without a judge. It is a power inherent in all courts of record, and coexisting with them by the wise provisions of the common law. A court without the power effectually to protect itself against the assaults of the lawless, or to enforce its orders, judgments, or decrees against the recusant parties before it, would be a disgrace to the legislation, and a stigma upon the age which invented it. In this country, all courts derive their authority from the people, and hold it in trust for their security and benefit. In this State, all judges are elected by the people, and hold their authority, in a double sense, directly from them; the power they exercise is but the authority of the people themselves, exercised through courts as their agents. It is the authority and laws emanating from the people, which the judges sit to exercise and enforce. Contempts against these courts, in the administration of their laws, are insults offered to the authority of the people themselves, and not to the humble agents of the law, whom they employ in the conduct of their government. The power to compel the lawless offender, against decency and propriety, to respect the laws of his country, and submit to their authority (a duty to which the good citizen yields hearty obedience, without compulsion) must exist, or courts and laws operate at last as a restraint upon the upright, who need no restraint, and a license to the offenders, whom they are made to subdue.' At 341—342 of 36 Miss.
Numerous observations could be made concerning what is set forth here.1 For our present purposes, however, we need only note that we find no basis for a determination that, at the time the Constitution was adopted, contempt was generally regarded as not extending to cases of serious misconduct. Rather, it appears that the limitations which did exist were quite narrow in scope, being applicable only to a specific contempt2 or to a particular type of court.
The first Connecticut statute we have been able to find which limited the power of all courts to inflict punishment summarily is cited in an 1824 edition of Connecticut statutes: 'If any person, in the presence of any court, shall, either by words or actions, behave contemptuously or disorderly, it shall be in the power of the court to inflict such punishment upon him, by fine or imprisonment, as shall be judged reasonable: Provided, however, that no single minister of justice shall inflict a greater fine than seven dollars, nor a longer term of imprisonment than one month; and no other court shall inflict a greater fine than one hundred dollars, nor a longer term of imprisonment than six months.' Conn.Pub.Stat.Laws, 1821 (1824 ed.), at 118—119. This statute applied only to acts of contempt committed in the presence of the court and left 'all other cases of contempt to be ascertained and punished according to the course of the common law.' Huntington v. McMahon, 48 Conn. 174, 196 (May Term, 1880). Accord, William Rogers Mfg. Co. v. Rogers, 38 Conn. 121, 123 (February Term, 1871).
The same laws also made it a contempt, punishable summarily by commitment and fine of $200, to refuse to perform or accept service of a writ of habeas corpus. Conn.Pub.Stat.Laws, 1821 (1824 ed.), at 219—220.
Records of cases in the Particular Court between 1639 and 1663 reveal several summary contempt proceedings: In 1639, Thomas Gridley was 'Censured to be whipt at Hartford and bound to his good behavior' for, inter alia, using 'contempteous words against the orders of Court * * *.' Records of the Particular Court of the Colony of Connecticut, 1639—1663, at 5. Enoch Buck was fined 10 shillings 'for irregular speeches in Court' in 1648. Id., at 60. In 1654, Will Taylor was committed to prison for an unspecified length of time for his 'Contemtuous Carriage in the Courte * * *.' Id., at 128. John Sadler was ordered imprisoned for a day and fined 40 shillings in 1655 for 'Contemptuous Carrage against the Courte and Magistrates * * *.' Id., at 152. In 1657, both parties in a case were fined 10 shillings for disorderly carriage in court. Id., at 187. In 1663, for, inter alia, 'defameing the sentence of the Court and one of the members thereof,' Edward Bartlet was ordered to prison for about 10 days and made to give 10 pounds security for his good behavior. Id., at 269. Connecticut Colony Particular Court records also indicate various fines and forfeitures, from two shillings, six pence, to four pounds, imposed on nonappearing parties and jurors between 1647 and 1654. (E.g., Thomas Sherwood fined 40 shillings 'for his contempte in not appeareing att Court uppon summons,' id., at 47.)
We were unable to find any Delaware colonial statutes dealing generally with contempt. Two statutes, apparently passed during the early part of the eighteenth century, provided maximum penalties for certain types of offenses: Jurors who refused to attend could be summarily fined up to 20 shillings; and one who spoke in derogation of a court's judgment or committed any rudeness or misdemeanor in a court while the court was in session could be fined up to five pounds. 1 Del.Laws (1797 ed.), at 117, 120. A 1739 or 1740 'Act against drunkenness, (and) blasphemy' authorized a maximum fine of five pounds for one convicted3 of using, upon arrest by court order, 'abusive, reviling or threatning speeches against * * * (any) court * * *.' Id., at 174. An 1852 Act provided that judges of the Superior Court could punish for contempt as fully 'as the justices of the king's bench, common pleas, and exchequer in England, * * * may or can do.' Del.Rev.Stat. (1852 ed.), at 317.
An 1801 statute set a fine of $10 as the amount of punishment that could be imposed upon a defaulting witness by a justice of the peace. Ga.Laws, 1801—1810 (1812 ed.), at 17. An 1811 statute made more specific mention of the contempt power of the justices of the peace, providing that these officers could fine or imprison for contempt, but not exceeding $2 or two days. Ga.Laws, 1811—1819 (1821 ed.) at 378.
The earliest reported Georgia contempt case is State v. Noel, T.U.P.Charlt. 43 (1805—1810) (1806). There the mayor and marshal of the City of Savannah were fined $50 and $10 respectively for failing to comply with an order of the Superior Court directing them to suspend certain City Council proceedings. In 1807 the Superior Court said in State v. White, T.U.P.Charlt. 123, 136 (1805—1810) (1807), that the inferior courts of record had the power to 'inflict punishments at the discretion of the court, for all contempts of their authority.' No specific punishment was indicated in that case. In State v. Helvenston, R.M.Charlt. 48 (1811—1837) (1820), several jurors were fined $5 each for having talked with persons not officers of the court.
Three other colonial Maryland Acts concerned only the punishments of jurors and witnesses who failed to appear as summoned and the enforcement of the rules of court. It is not clear whether these were treated as contempts A law enacted in 1715 provided that any person duly served with process to appear as a witness who shall default and fail to appear, 'shall be fined by the justices of the provincial court one thousand pounds of tobacco * * *' or by the county court, five hundred pounds of tobacco. I Dorsey's Md.Laws, 1692—1839 (1840 ed.), at 20. Another 1715 statute provided that the judges of the provincial and county courts in Maryland could 'make such rules and orders from time to time, for the well governing and regulating their said courts * * * as to them in their discretion shall seem meet * * * (and shall enforce these rules with) such fines and forfeitures, as they shall think fit, not exceeding one thousand pounds of tobacco in the provincial court, and five hundred pounds of tobacco in the county court * * *.' I Dorsey's Md.Laws, 1692—1839 (1840 ed.), at 24.
The Massachusetts Bay Colony and Plymouth Colony enacted many early statutes relating to contempt. In 1641 the General Court4 decreed that no one in Massachusetts should be imprisoned before sentence if he could put up bail, except 'in crimes Capital, and contempt in open Court, and in such cases where some expresse Act of Court doth allow it.' Mass.Laws and Liberties (1648 ed.), at 28. Prior to 1648 another General Court order provided 'Fine, Imprisonment, Disfranchisement or Bannishment' for one 'lawfully convict'5 in any General Court or Court of Assistants of defaming any court of justice, any court order, or any magistrate or judge with respect to a sentence imposed. Id., at 36. In 1665 the General Court made a law permitting corporal punishment for the contempt of refusing to pay the fine imposed for 'Prophanation of the Sabbath, Contempt or Neglect of Gods Publick Worship, Reproaching of the Laws, and Authority here Established * * *.' Mass.Colonial La s, 1660 (1889 ed.), at 232.
A 1692 Massachusetts Act provided fines for cursing in the hearing of a justice of the peace—five shillings for the first curse (or two hours in the stocks if unable to pay) and 12 pence for each curse thereafter (or three hours in the stocks). Mass.Bay Charter (1726 ed.), at 9. Various fines were established for nonappearing jurors (20 shillings before 1698, 40 shillings until 1711, four to six pounds until 1784, 40 shillings or five pounds as of 1784),6 nonappearing witnesses (40 shillings),7 and defendants who failed to appear before a justice of the peace (10 shillings).8
Many early contempt cases are contained in the Records of the Court of Assistants9 of Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1630—1692, and in several of these, severe summary punishments were inflicted. For example, in 1675 Maurice Brett 'for his Contemptuous Carriage Confronting the sentence of this Court' was sentenced to stand for an hour with his ear nailed to a pillory. At the end of the hour, the ear was to be cut off and he was to pay 20 shillings or be given 10 lashes. I Records of the Court of Assistants, at 57. Also: In 1643, Elizabeth Vane was ordered committed at the pleasure of the court for abusing one of the magistrates (she was released upon humble petition and acknowledgment), II Records of the Court of Assistants, at 132; in 1637 John Greene was fined 20 pounds, committed until the fine was paid, and told not to come into this jurisdiction again 'upon paine of fine, or imprisonment at the pleasure of the Courte for speaking contemptuously of the magistrates,' id., at 71; in 1633 Captain John Stone was fined 100 pounds and prohibited from returning to the Colony without leave from the government 'under the penalty of death' for abusing an officer of the court, assaulting him and calling him 'A just asse,' id., at 35; in 1630 or 1631 Thomas Foxe was ordered whipped for saying that the court acted in a case 'as if they hadd taken some bribe,' id., at 12; in 1634 John Lee was ordered whipped and fined 'for calling * * * (a court officer) false-hearted knave & hard-hearted knave heavy friend,' id., at 43; in 1637 or 1638 Thomas Starr was ordered fined 20 pounds, committed and enjoined to acknowledge his fault the next week for speaking against an order of the court, id., at 73; in 1638 Katherine Finch was ordered whipped and committed until the General Court for speaking against the magistrates and the Churches, id., at 76; and in 1659 William Robbinson was ordered whipped 20 lashes for contemptuous speeches against the whole court and the governor, III Records of the Court of Assistants, at 68.
In 1635 the General Court ordered John Endecott committed to prison for an unspecified period 'for his contempt in protesting against the proceeding of the Court * * *.' He was released upon submission and acknowledgment. See Haskins, Law and Authority in Early Massachusetts, at 207. The Records of the Suffolk County Court from 1680 to 1698 reveal two other cases in which men were ordered imprisoned for unspecified periods for 'contemptuous carriage in open court.' John Farnum (1681), Records of the Inferiour Court of Pleas (Suffolk County Court), 1680—1698, at 111; John Jones (1685), id., at 128. The Pynchon Court Record, 1639—1702, reveals three instances in which a magistrate fined men for contempts of court. See Colonial Justice in Western Massachusetts, 1639—1702, at 243, 271, 288.
In 1698 the Court of Common Right of East New Jersey fined a contemner 50 pounds and placed him in prison until it should be paid. Contemner had come before the court, demanded to know by what authority it sat, denied that it sat by the authority of the King and resisted when the constable took him into custody. Case of Lewis Morrice, I Journal of the Courts of Common Right and Chancery of East New Jersey, 1683—1702, at 311.
Perhaps the earliest enactment concerning contempt in colonial New York was the Charter of Liberties and Privileges, passed by the General Assembly on October 30, 1683. Hamlin and Baker, I Supreme Court of Judicature of the Province of New York, 1691—1704, at 147. The Charter contained a broad provision assuring jury trials in numerous cases and stating that no freeman could be imprisoned, deprived of his freehold or liberty or exiled except by the judgment of 12 peers. However, there was a specific exception from this jury requirement when the fault charged was a contempt.
Our research has uncovered no other statutory provisions dealing with contempt in New York prior to the Constitution. An 1801 law provided that any person swearing in the presence or hearing of a justice of the peace, mayor, recorder or alderman could be placed, in a summary manner, in the stocks for one hour. N.Y.Laws, 1801 (1887 ed.), at 54. Then, in 1829, a fairly comprehensive statute was enacted, designating what actions