Source: http://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/303/201/
Timestamp: 2014-09-02 14:31:57
Document Index: 460130964

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 80', '§ 225', '§ 645', '§ 723', '§ 225', '§ 645']

MOOKINI et al. v. UNITED STATES. | LII / Legal Information Institute
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303 U.S. 201 (58 S.Ct. 543, 82 L.Ed. 748)
MOOKINI et al. v. UNITED STATES.*
Argued: and Submitted Feb. 2, 1938.
[HTML] Mr. O. P. Soares, of Honolulu, Hawaii, for petitioners.
Petitioners were convicted in the District Court of the Territory of Hawaii of violating section 35 of the Criminal Code, as amended, relating to fraudulent claims. 18 U.S.C. 80, 18 U.S.C.A. § 80. The verdict was rendered on May 28, 1935; motions for a new trial were overruled on June 19, 1935; and petitioners were sentenced on June 29, 1935. Appeal was allowed by the District Court on September 27, 1935.
The Circuit Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, finding that the appeal was not taken in the manner or within the time permitted by the Criminal Appeals Rules promulgated by this Court on May 7, 1934, Rule 3, 28 U.S.C.A. following section 723a, 292 U.S. 662, 663, dismissed the appeal. 92 F.2d 126. In view of the importance of the question as to the application of the Criminal Appeals Rules to the District Court of the Territory of Hawaii, we granted certiorari. 302 U.S. 674, 58 S.Ct. 53, 82 L.Ed. -.
It is not questioned that the appeal to the Circuit Court of Appeals was allowed within the three months' period specified in section 8(c) of the Act of February 13, 1925, c. 229, 43 Stat. 936, 940, 28 U.S.C. 225, 230, 28 U.S.C.A. §§ 225, 230; 48 U.S.C. 645, 48 U.S.C.A. § 645.
The Criminal Appeals Rules were promulgated pursuant to the Act of March 8, 1934, 48 Stat. 399, amending the Act of February 24, 1933. 28 U.S.C. 723a, 28 U.S.C.A. § 723a. The act authorized this Court 'to prescribe, from time to time, rules of practice and procedure with respect to any or all proceedings after verdict, or finding of guilt by the court if a jury has been waived, or plea of guilty, in criminal cases in district courts of the United States, including the District Courts of Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Canal Zone, and Virgin Islands, in the Supreme Courts of the District of Columbia, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico, in the United States Court for China, in the United States Circuit Courts of Appeals, in the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia, and in the Supreme Court of the United States.'
As the Criminal Appeals Rules were not made applicable to the District Court of the Territory of Hawaii, they did not supersede or alter the provisions of the Act of February 13, 1925, as to appeals from that court to the Circuit Court of Appeals. 28 U.S.C. 225, 230, 28 U.S.C.A. § 225, 230. The provision of the Organic Act of Hawaii, 48 U.S.C. 645, 48 U.S.C.A. § 645, to which the court below refers, that appeals from the District Court of the Territory to the Circuit Court of Appeals should be taken in the same manner as appeals from District Courts, was always subject to modification in the discretion of the Congress which in its future legislation could make or authorize such distinctions in appellate procedure as appeared to be wise. The act authorizing this Court to promulgate rules for criminal appeals, which should have the effect of legislation, necessarily modified the former statutory provisions so as to give the Court full authority to prescribe the time and manner of taking appeals and to leave the Court free to determine to what courts, within the range of the authorization, its rules should apply. Pursuant to this authority, the Court has limited its rules so that they do not govern appeals from the District Court of the Territory of Hawaii, and there is nothing in the earlier legislation which compels the extension of the rules beyond their intended and expressed application.