Case Name: PEOPLE ex rel. BEDELL v. KINNEY, Sheriff
Court: New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1897-12-18
Citations: 48 N.Y.S. 749
Docket Number: 
Parties: PEOPLE ex rel. BEDELL v. KINNEY, Sheriff.
Judges: 
Reporter: West's New York Supplement
Volume: 48
Pages: 749–753

Head Matter:
PEOPLE ex rel. BEDELL v. KINNEY, Sheriff.
(Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Fourth Department.
December 18, 1897.)
.Habeas Coepus—Peematubity.
Kelator in an application for a writ of habeas corpus was sentenced January 23, 1897, to six months’ imprisonment on a judgment admitted to have been regular and legal. Held, that the court had no jurisdiction on May 7, 1897, to order that relator be released on August 23, 1897, since relief cannot be granted by virtue of a writ of habeas corpus until the relator is entitled to his liberty.
Ward, J., dissenting.
The relator was convicted for a violation of the liquor-tax law on the 23d •of January, 1897, in the Niagara county court, and sentenced by that court to be imprisoned in the Niagara County Jail at hard labor for the term of 6 months, and to pay a fine of $1,030, or to be imprisoned until the fine was satisfied, not exceeding 1,050 days. The defendant was a saloon keeper in Lockport, N. Y. He had not obtained a liquor-tax certificate. The amount ■of tax imposed upon a person trafficking in liquors as a keeper of a saloon in the city of Lockport was in the year 1896, after the enactment of the liquor tax law, $360. Before the expiration of the term of imprisonment, and in April, 1897, a justice of the supreme court issued a writ of habeas corpus, returnable at a special term of that court, to inquire into the cause of the imprisonment of the relator by the sheriff of Niagara county, and directed to him, which writ was issued upon the petition of the relator that he was illegally detained and imprisoned by the sheriff. The sheriff made return to the writ that the relator was in his custody as sheriff,. and the true cause of his imprisonment and restraint by him was the sentence aforesaid. Upon the hearing of the writ, the court, at special term, made an order May 7, 1897, that the relator be remanded to the sheriff of Niagara county, and there remain until the expiration of six months from January 23, 1897, and, upon the expiration of the said term of six months, that he be discharged from the custody of the said sheriff. From this order, the sheriff, by the district attorney of Niagara county, appeals to this court.
Appeal from special term, Niagara county.
Application by the people, at the relation of Charles Bedell, against John F. Kinney, sheriff of Niagara county, for a writ of habeas corpus. From an order entered .May 7, 1897, directing the discharge of the relator on July 23, 1897, defendant appeals.
Reversed.
Argued before HARDIN, P. J., and FOLLETT, ADAMS, GREEN, and WARD, JJ.
Abner H. Hopkins, Dist. Atty., for appellant.

Opinion:
FOLLETT, J.
The relator was sentenced January 23, 1897; the habeas corpus was issued April 19, 1897; and May 7, 1897, the order appealed from was granted and entered, which directed that the relator be discharged July 23,1897. It is conceded that the part of the judgment adjudging that the relator be imprisoned for six months is legal and regular. The writ of habeas corpus is a writ of liberty, and relief cannot be granted by virtue thereof until the relator is entitled to his liberty. The proceedings were premature, and the writ should have been dismissed. People v. Woodworth, 78 Hun, 586, 29 N. Y. Supp. 211; People v. Sutton (Sup.) 6 N. Y. Supp. 95; People v. Baker, 89 N. Y. 460.
The order should be reversed, and the proceedings dismissed. All-concur, except WARD, J., dissenting.