Source: https://openjurist.org/319/us/423/stephan-v-united-states
Timestamp: 2020-01-19 04:29:15
Document Index: 438899956

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 2', '§ 2', '§ 681', '§ 681', '§ 681', '§ 54', '§ 54']

319 US 423 Stephan v. United States - | OpenJurist
319 U.S. 423 - Stephan v. United States -
319 US 423 Stephan v. United States -
63 S.Ct. 1135
87 L.Ed. 1490
Stephan was convicted of treason upon a jury trial and sentenced to death. 18 U.S.C. § 2, 18 U.S.C.A. § 2. The Circuit Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, sitting en banc, affirmed the conviction, 133 F.2d 87, and after careful consideration of the case we denied certiorari. 318 U.S. 781, 63 S.Ct. 858, 87 L.Ed. —-, rehearing denied 319 U.S. 783, 63 S.Ct. 1172, 87 L.Ed. -. He now contends that, in addition to the appellate review which he has already obtained, he is entitled to an appeal as of right from the district court directly to this Court, in view of the provisions of 18 U.S.C. § 681, 18 U.S.C.A. § 681, which in terms authorizes such an appeal 'in all cases of conviction of crime the punish ment of which provided by law is death, tried before any court of the United States'.
Such a plain purpose, established both by language of the Judicial Code and its legislative history, cannot be ignored. Our appellate jurisdiction is defined by statute (Ex parte McCardle, 7 Wall. 506, 512, 19 L.Ed. 264; The Francis Wright, 105 U.S. 381, 386, 26 L.Ed. 1101; St. Louis, I.M. & S.R. Co. v. Taylor, 210 U.S. 281, 292, 28 S.Ct. 616, 619, 53 L.Ed. 1061) and it is evident that since 1911 the statutes have not authorized a direct appeal to this Court in capital cases. The fact that the words of 18 U.S.C. § 681 have lingered on in the successive editions of the United States Code is immaterial. By 1 U.S.C. § 54(a), 1 U.S.C.A. § 54(a) the Code establishes 'prima facie' the laws of the United States. But the very meaning of 'prima facie' is that the Code cannot prevail over the Statutes at Large when the two are inconsistent. Cf. Warner v. Goltra, 293 U.S. 155, 161, 55 S.Ct. 46, 49, 79 L.Ed. 254; Cloverleaf Butter Co. v. Patterson, 315 U.S. 148, 164, 62 S.Ct. 491, 500, 86 L.Ed. 754, note 16.