Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/221/361/case.html
Timestamp: 2017-04-28 19:54:50
Document Index: 430419220

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 5440', '§ 877', '§ 1894', '§ 5', '§ 2', '§ 2259']

Wilson v. United States (full text) :: 221 U.S. 361 (1911) :: Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center Log In
Wilson v. United States 221 U.S. 361 (1911)
U.S. Supreme CourtWilson v. United States, 221 U.S. 361 (1911)Wilson v. United StatesNo. 759, 760, 788Argued March 2, 3, 1911Decided April 15, 1911221 U.S. 361ERROR TO AND APPEALS FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE
A corporation is under a duty to produce records, books, and papers in its possession when they may be properly required in the administration of justice. Page 221 U. S. 362
Notwithstanding English views as to the extent of protection against self-incrimination the duties of corporations and officers thereof are to be determined by our laws. Page 221 U. S. 363
The facts, which involve the validity of a subpoena duces tecum issued to a corporation, and the right of an officer thereof to refuse to produce the documents required by such subpoena on the ground that they tended to incriminate him, are stated in the opinion. Page 221 U. S. 366
These three cases involve the same question. The first is a writ of error to the Circuit Court to review a judgment committing the plaintiff in error for contempt. The second is an appeal from an order of the Circuit Court dismissing a writ of habeas corpus sued out after such commitment. Page 221 U. S. 367 The third is an appeal from an order dismissing a writ of habeas corpus by which a discharge was sought from a later commitment for a similar contempt.
The circumstances were these: the grand jury empaneled in the Circuit Court for some time had been inquiring into alleged violations of §§ 5440 and 5480 of the United States Revised Statutes by Wilson and others. Wilson was the president of the United Wireless Telegraph Company, a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Maine. On August 3, 1910, the grand jury found two indictments against him and certain officers, directors and stockholders of this corporation, the one charging fraudulent use of the mails and the other a conspiracy for such use. The grand jury continued its investigations, and, on October 7, 1910, a subpoena duces tecum was issued (set forth in the margin *), which was directed to the Page 221 U. S. 368 United Wireless Telegraph Company, requiring its appearance before the grand jury and the production by it of the letter press copy books of the company
"III. Said letter press copy books for the months of May and June, 1909, in said subpoena mentioned during said months of May and June, 1909, were kept regularly in my office as President of said corporation, and were regularly used by me and, for the most part, if not entirely, by me only, and contained copies of my personal and other correspondence, as well as copies of the correspondence relating to the business and affairs of said corporation. For the greater part of the time during and since May and June, 1909, and all the time during the last month and Page 221 U. S. 369 more, said letter press copy books have been and still are in my possession, custody and control, and as against any other officer or employee of said corporation, or any other person, I have been entitled to such possession, custody and control. I did not secure and have not at any time held possession of said letter press copy books in anticipation that any subpoena for their production would be served upon me or said corporation, or for the purpose of evading any subpoena or other legal process which might be served upon me or said corporation."
Wilson then petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus, alleging that the commitment was illegal for the reason (1) that the court was without jurisdiction to entertain Page 221 U. S. 370 the charge of contempt, (2) that there was no "cause" or "action" pending in the court between the United States and any party mentioned in the subpoena, in which the petitioner could be required to testify or give evidence, (3) that the grand jury was not in the exercise of its legitimate authority in prosecuting the investigation set out in the presentment, its powers being limited to the investigation of specific charges against particular persons, and (4) that the subpoena was illegal, unauthorized and void because it did not comply with § 877 of the United States Revised Statutes in that it required the person addressed to appear, and not to attend, and did not require the person addressed "to testify generally" in behalf of the United States, and because it was not issued pursuant to an order of court, was addressed to the corporation without mention of any individual or officer, and would not apprise the defendant in the prosecution which might follow of the name of the precise witness who might have appeared against him.
Later, on October 28, 1910, another subpoena duces tecum was issued in the same form, addressed to the United Wireless Telegraph Company, and calling for the same books. It was served on the appellant Wilson and also on the secretary and five directors of the company. On the return day, they appeared before the grand jury, Page 221 U. S. 371 the appellant Wilson then having in his possession a letter press copy book which the subpoena described, but, upon demand being made, it was not produced before the grand jurors for their inspection. The foreman then directed the production of the books on the following day, when the same persons again appeared, Wilson still having the book above mentioned, and the demand and refusal were repeated.
We may first consider the objections to the validity of the subpoena and then the claim of privilege. Page 221 U. S. 372
Where the subpoena duces tecum contains the usual ad testificandum clause, still it is not necessary for the party requiring the production to have the person producing the documents sworn as a witness. They may be proved by others. 3 Wigmore on Evidence, §§ 1894, 2200; Davis v. Dale, M. & M. 514; Summers v. Moseley, 2 Cr. & M. 477; Rush v. Smith, 1 C. M. & R. 94; Perry v. Gibson, 1 A. & E. 48; Martin v. Williams, 18 Alabama, 190; Treasurer v. Moore, 3 Brev. (S.Car.), 550; Page 221 U. S. 373 Sherman v. Barrett, McMull. (S.Car.), 163; Aiken v. Martin, 11 Paige, 499; Note, 15 Fed.Rep. 726.
"The origin of the subpoena duces tecum does not distinctly appear. It has been said on the part of the defendant that it was not introduced or known in practice till the reign of Charles the Second, and it may be that, in its present form, the subpoena duces tecum was not known or made use of until that period; but no doubt can be entertained that there must have been some process similar to the subpoena duces tecum to compel the production of documents, not only before that time, but even before the statute of the 5th of Elizabeth. Prior to that statute, there must have been a power in the crown (for it would have been utterly impossible to carry on the administration of justice without such power) to require the attendance in courts of justice of persons capable of giving evidence, and the production of documents material to the cause, though in the possession of a stranger. The process for that purpose might not be called a subpoena duces tecum, but I may call it a subpoena to produce; the party called upon in pursuance of such a process not as a witness, but simply to produce, would do so or not, and if he did not, I can entertain no doubt that Page 221 U. S. 374 it would have been open to the party for whom he was called to make an application to the court in the ensuing term to punish him for his contempt in not producing the document in obedience to such subpoena. Whether he could require to be sworn not ad testificandum, but true answer to make to such questions as the court should demand of him touching the possession or custody of the document, is not now the question. Perhaps he might; but we are clearly of opinion that he has no right to require that a party bringing him into court for the mere purpose of producing a document should have him sworn in such a way as to make him a witness in the cause when it may often happen that he is a mere depository, and knows nothing of the documents of which he has the custody."
Where the documents of a corporation are sought, the practice has been to subpoena the officer who has them in his custody. But there would seem to be no reason why the subpoena duces tecum should not be directed to the corporation itself. Corporate existence implies amenability to legal process. The corporation may be sued; it may be compelled by mandamus, and restrained by injunction, directed to it. Possessing the privileges of a legal entity, and having records, books and papers, it is under Page 221 U. S. 375 a duty to produce them when they may properly be required in the administration of justice.
Nor was the process invalid under the Fourth Amendment. The rule laid down in the case of Boyd v. United States, 116 U. S. 616, is not applicable here. In that case, an information for the forfeiture of goods under the Customs Act of June 22, 1874, c. 391, 18 Stat. 187, it was held that the enforced production "of the private books and papers" of the owner of the goods sought to be forfeited, under the provisions of § 5 of that act, was "compelling him to be a witness against himself within the Page 221 U. S. 376 meaning of the Fifth Amendment," and was also "the equivalent of a search and seizure -- and an unreasonable search and seizure -- within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment." But there is no unreasonable search and seizure when a writ, suitably specific and properly limited in its scope, calls for the production of documents which, as against their lawful owner to whom the writ is directed, the party procuring its issuance is entitled to have produced. In the present case, the process was definite and reasonable in its requirements, and it was not open to the objection made in Hale v. Henkel, supra, (pp. 201 U. S. 76, 201 U. S. 77). Addressed to the corporation, and designed to enforce its duty, no ground appears upon which the corporation could have resisted the writ. And the corporation made no objection of any sort. The appellant did not attempt to assert any right on its part; his conduct was in antagonism to the corporation, so far as its attitude is shown. A majority of the directors, not including the appellant, appeared before the court and urged their solicitude to comply with the writ. They presented their formal action, taken at a meeting of the board, in which they demanded of the appellant the delivery of the books for production before the grand jury.
Concluding, then, that the subpoena was valid and that its service imposed upon the corporation the duty of obedience, there can be no doubt that the appellant was likewise bound by it unless, with respect to the books described, he could claim a personal privilege. A command to the corporation is, in effect, a command to those who are officially responsible for the conduct of its affairs. If they, apprised of the writ directed to the corporation, prevent compliance or fail to take appropriate action within their power for the performance of the corporate duty, they, no less than the corporation itself, are guilty of disobedience, and may be punished for contempt. The applicable principle was thus stated by Chief Justice Page 221 U. S. 377 Waite in Commissioners v. Sellew, 99 U. S. 624, 99 U. S. 627, where a peremptory mandamus was directed against a municipal board:
For there can be no question of the character of the books here called for. They were described in the subpoena as the books of the corporation, and it was the books so defined which, admitting possession, he withheld. The copies of letters written by the president of the corporation in the course of its transactions were as much a part of its documentary property, subject to its control and to its duty to produce when lawfully required in judicial proceedings, as its ledgers and minute books. It was said in the appellant's statement before the grand jury that the books contained copies of his "personal Page 221 U. S. 378 and other correspondence as well as copies of the correspondence relating to the business and affairs" of the corporation. But his personal letters were not demanded; these the subpoena did not seek to reach, and as to these no question of violation of privilege is presented. Plainly, he could not make these books his private or personal books by keeping copies of personal letters in them. Had the appellant merely sought to protect his personal correspondence from examination, it would not have been difficult to have provided, under the supervision of the court, for the withdrawal of such letters from scrutiny. Indeed, on the hearing of the second presentment, the court suggested their removal from the books. But the appellant was not content with protection against the production of his private letters; he claimed the privilege to withhold the corporate books and the documents which related to corporate matters and with respect to which he had acted in his capacity as the executive officer of the corporation. And that is the right here asserted.
It is at once apparent that the mere fact that the appellant himself wrote, or signed, the official letters copied into the books neither conditioned nor enlarged his privilege. Where one's private documents would tend to incriminate him, the privilege exists although they were actually written by another person. And where an officer of a corporation has possession of corporate records which disclose his crime, there is no ground upon which it can be said that he will be forced to produce them if the entries were made by another, but may withhold them if the entries were made by himself. The books are no more his private books in the latter case than in the former; if they have been held pursuant to the authority of the corporation, that authority is subject to termination. In both cases, production tends to criminate, and if requiring him to produce compels him to be a witness against himself in the one case, it does so equally in the Page 221 U. S. 379 other. There are other facts which serve to sharpen the claim of privilege, but are not determinative. Thus, there were two indictments pending against he appellant, and the inquiry before the grand jury was also directed against him. If, however, the privilege existed with respect to these books in his hands, it would have been likewise available had there been no prior indictments and had the immediate investigation concerned violations of law by others. The privilege holds although the pursuit of the person required to produce has not yet begun; it is the incriminating tendency of the disclosure, and not the pendency of the prosecution against the witness, upon which the right depends. Counselman v. Hitchcock, 142 U. S. 562, 142 U. S. 563.
That is, the power of the courts to require their production depends not upon their character as corporate books and the duty of the corporation to submit them to examination, but upon the particular custody in which they may be found. If they are in the actual custody of an officer whose criminal conduct they would disclose, then, as this argument would have it, his possession must be deemed inviolable, and, maintaining the absolute control which alone will insure protection from their being used against him in a criminal proceeding, he may defy the authority of the corporation whose officer or fiduciary he is and assert against the visitatorial power of the State, and the authority of the Government in enforcing its laws, an impassable barrier. Page 221 U. S. 380
There are abundant illustrations in the decisions. Thus, in Bradshaw v. Murphy, 7 C. & P. 612, it was held that a vestry clerk who was called as a witness could not, on the ground that it might incriminate himself, object to the production of the vestry books kept under the statute, 58 George III, chapter 69, § 2. In State v. Farnum, 73 S.Car. 165, it appeared that a legislative committee had been appointed to investigate the affairs of the State Dispensary, and it was provided that it should have access to Page 221 U. S. 381 all books of the institution or of any officer or employee thereof. In anticipation, the state dispenser removed certain books from the files, defending his action on the plea that they contained private matter which the committee had no right to inspect. The court ruled that it was the
The fundamental ground of decision in this class of Page 221 U. S. 382 cases is that, where, by virtue of their character and the rules of law applicable to them, the books and papers are held subject to examination by the demanding authority, the custodian has no privilege to refuse production although their contents tend to criminate him. In assuming their custody, he has accepted the incident obligation to permit inspection.
This view, and the reasons which support it, have so Page 221 U. S. 383 recently been stated by this court in the case of Hale v. Henkel, supra, that it is unnecessary to do more than to refer to what was there said (pp. 201 U. S. 74, 201 U. S. 75):
"Upon the other hand, the corporation is a creature of the State. It is presumed to be incorporated for the benefit of the public. It receives certain special privileges and franchises, and holds them subject to the laws of the State and the limitations of its charter. Its powers are limited by law. It can make no contract not authorized by its charter. Its rights to act as a corporation are only preserved to it so long as it obeys the laws of its creation. There is a reserved right in the legislature to investigate Page 221 U. S. 384 its contracts and find out whether it has exceeded its powers. It would be a strange anomaly to hold that a State, having chartered a corporation to make use of certain franchises, could not, in the exercise of its sovereignty, inquire how these franchises had been employed, and whether they had been abused, and demand the production of the corporate books and papers for that purpose. The defense amounts to this: that an officer of a corporation, which is charged with a criminal violation of the statute, may plead the criminality of such corporation as a refusal to produce its books. To state this proposition is to answer it. While an individual may lawfully refuse to answer incriminating questions unless protected by an immunity statute, it does not follow that a corporation, vested with special privileges and franchises, may refuse to show its hand when charged with an abuse of such privileges."
The appellant held the corporate books subject to the corporate duty. If the corporation were guilty of misconduct, he could not withhold its books to save it, and if he were implicated in the violations of law, he could not withhold the books to protect himself from the effect of their disclosures. The reserved power of visitation would seriously be embarrassed, if not wholly defeated in Page 221 U. S. 385 its effective exercise, if guilty officers could refuse inspection of the records and papers of the corporation. No personal privilege to which they are entitled requires such a conclusion. It would not be a recognition, but an unjustifiable extension, of the personal rights they enjoy. They may decline to utter upon the witness stand a single self-criminating word. They may demand that any accusation against them individually be established without the aid of their oral testimony or the compulsory production by them of their private papers. But the visitatorial power which exists with respect to the corporation of necessity reaches the corporate books without regard to the conduct of the custodian.
We have not overlooked the early English decisions to Page 221 U. S. 386 which our attention has been called (Rex v. Purnell, 1 W.Bl. 37; Rex v. Granatelli, 7 State Tr. N.S. 979; see also Rex v. Cornelius, 2 Stra. 1210), but these cannot be deemed controlling. The corporate duty, and the relation of the appellant as the officer of the corporation to its discharge, are to be determined by our laws. Nothing more is demanded than that the appellant should perform the obligations pertaining to his custody and should produce the books which he holds in his official capacity in accordance with the requirements of the subpoena. None of his personal papers are subject to inspection under the writ, and his action, in refusing to permit the examination of the corporate books demanded fully warranted his commitment for contempt.
The facts are stated in the opinion, but they are not all of equal significance, indeed, may confuse unless distinguished. I put to one side, therefore, all consideration of the process by which the letter-press books were brought into court or before the grand jury. They were taken there, of course, in deference -- in submission, it may be better to say -- to the command of the law expressed in the subpoena. Page 221 U. S. 387 Resistance to that was not offered by Wilson, nor was it necessary. Boyd v. United States, 116 U. S. 616. His constitutional right was asserted afterwards. With Wilson then and the books in his possession, we have to deal and the rights he had in such situation, and let us keep in mind that it was his guilt under the law that was under investigation, and which the books were sought for the purpose of exposing. Three indictments had already been found against him. Crime, therefore, had been formally charged, and further crime was being investigated -- not crime by the corporation, but crime by him, and the proof, it was supposed, lay in the books. They were sought for no other reason. They were demanded of him to convict him. To the demand, he answered that the Constitution of his country protected him from producing evidence against himself. And he was certainly asked to produce such evidence. The books were in his possession in an assertion of right over them against everybody. In the transactions they recorded, he was a participant, and, it may be, the only doer. It is made something of in the opinion that the corporation was willing to have the books surrendered. The more unmistakable, therefore, was the claim of Wilson a personal privilege. And let it be kept in mind that it was his own privilege that he claimed, not that of the corporation, and I pass by as irrelevant a consideration of what disclosures could have been required of it, even if it had been accused of crime and there had been pending an inquiry against it.
Upon what ground was the privilege denied? Upon the ground that the books were not his property, but that of the corporation, and they are assimilated in the opinion to public documents, a consideration I pass for the present. How far, as affecting the privilege, is the rule of the title to property to be carried? Every rule may be tested by what can be done under it. Whenever a privilege is claimed against the production of books, or, of course, other Page 221 U. S. 388 property, may an issue be raised as to title and upon its decision by the court the right to the privilege be determined, or shall the rule only be applied when such issue is not made? And what of partnership property, or property otherwise owned in common? Does the degree of interest affect the rule? In the case at bar, Wilson asserted the right to hold the books against the corporation. However, such considerations are, in my view, of minor importance, and I instance them only to show to what uncertainties we may go when we leave the clear and simple directness of the privilege against self-incrimination. As the privilege is a guaranty of personal liberty, it should not be qualified by construction, and a distinction based on the ownership of the books demanded as evidence is immaterial. Such distinction has not been regarded except in the case of public records, as will be exhibited by a review of the authorities.
In Rex v. Cornelius, 2 Strange, 1210, an information was granted against the defendants, who were justices of the peace, for taking money for granting licenses to alehouse keepers. A rule was applied for to inspect the books of the corporation. It was refused on the ground that it would, in effect, oblige a defendant indicted for misdemeanor to furnish evidence against himself. Page 221 U. S. 389
The rule was refused, the court saying: "We know no instance wherein this court has granted a rule to inspect books in a criminal prosecution nakedly considered." The corporations in those cases were considered as private, as observed by Wigmore on Evidence, notes to § 2259. For the same reason, in Rex v. Worsenham, 1 Ld.Raym. 705, the production of custom-house books in an information against custom-house officers for forging a custom-house bond were not compelled. And in Regina v. Mead, 2 Ld.Raym. 927, books of the defendant who, with eight others, were incorporated as highway surveyors, being considered of a private nature, were not required to be produced. Such corporations would, no doubt, be regarded today as public, as observed by Wigmore, and he cites cases in which certain records were deemed public, as follows: in a libel suit, a parish vestry book required by statute to be kept; registered pharmacist's reports filed as required by law; in a criminal prosecution for unlawful railroad charges, a tariff sheet publicly posted; a druggist's record of sales kept under a statute to charge him with illegal liquor selling. By a statute in Massachusetts, "no official paper Page 221 U. S. 390 or record" produced by a witness at a legislative hearing is to be within the privilege against self-crimination.
The weight of authority, therefore, is against the power of a court to compel the production of books of a private corporation by anyone whom they would criminate. And the cases seem right on principle. The spirit of the privilege is that a witness shall not be used in any way to his crimination. When that may be the effect of any evidence Page 221 U. S. 391 required of him, be it oral or documentary, he may resist. He cannot be made use of at all to secure the evidence. This must necessarily be the extent of the privilege. Rex v. Purnell, supra, is specially in point. The Solicitor General for the crown, replying to the objection that no one was bound to furnish evidence against himself, said,
In a case of seizure and forfeiture of certain property under the customs-revenue laws for fraudulent invoicing, Boyd entered a claim for the property. Before the trial, it became important to know the quantity and value of the property. In obedience to an order issued by the court Page 221 U. S. 392 under a statute of the United States, Boyd produced the invoice of the property, but objected to inspection on the ground that, in a suit for forfeiture, no evidence can be compelled from the claimants, and also that the statute, so far as it compelled production of the evidence to be used against him, was unconstitutional and void. It was held that the order of the court and the statute violated both the Fourth and Fifth Amendments of the Constitution of the United States, notwithstanding that the statute could trace its purpose back to one passed in 1863, which had been sustained by decisions in the Circuit and District Courts, and notwithstanding it also had been sustained by such decisions. The case has been criticised, but it has endured and has become the foundation of other decisions. Indeed, eminent legal names may be cited in criticism, if not ridicule, of the policy expressed by the Fifth Amendment, that is, the policy of protection against self-crimination. It is declared to have no logical relation to the abuses that are said to sustain it, and that the pretense for it, so far as based on hardship, is called an "old woman's reason" (also a "lawyer's reason") and a "double distilled and treble refined sentimentality." So far as based on unfairness, it is called "the fox hunter's reason," its basis being that a criminal and a fox must have a chance to escape, the subsequent pursuit being made thereby more interesting. And it is asked, supposing a witness upon the stand in a prosecution for robbery,
Bentham on Judicial Evidence, vol. 5, page 229 et seq. A reply would be difficult if government had no other concern than the punishment of crime. Page 221 U. S. 393
A limitation by construction of any of the constitutional securities for personal liberty is to be deprecated. A people may grow careless and overlook at what cost and through what travail they acquired even the least of their liberties. Page 221 U. S. 394 The process of deterioration is simple. It may even be conceived to be advancement, and that intelligent self-government can be trusted to adapt itself to occasion, not needing the fetters of a predetermined rule. It may come to be considered that a constitution is the cradle of infancy, that a nation grown up may boldly advance in confident security against the abuses of power, and that passion will not sway more than reason. But what of the end when the lessons of history are ignored, when the barriers erected by wisdom gathered from experience are weakened or destroyed? And weakened or destroyed they may be when interest and desire feel their restraint. What then of the end; will history repeat itself? And this is not a cry of alarm. "Obsta principiis" was the warning of Mr. Justice Bradley in Boyd v. United States against the attempt of the Government to break down the constitutional privilege of the citizen by attempting to exact from him evidence of fraud against the customs laws. I repeat the warning. The present case is another attempt of the same kind, and should be treated in the same way.