Case Name: PEOPLE ex rel. MAY WILSON v. WARDEN OF THE CITY PRISON OF NEW YORK HABEAS CARPUS
Court: New York Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1907-10
Citations: 21 N.Y. Crim. 411
Docket Number: 
Parties: PEOPLE ex rel. MAY WILSON v. WARDEN OF THE CITY PRISON OF NEW YORK HABEAS CARPUS.
Judges: 
Reporter: New York Criminal Reports
Volume: 21
Pages: 411–411

Head Matter:
SUPREME COURT—SPECIAL TERM—NEW YORK,
Oct., 1907.
PEOPLE ex rel. MAY WILSON v. WARDEN OF THE CITY PRISON OF NEW YORK HABEAS CARPUS.
(56 Misc. 109.)
Habeas Corpus—Writ and Return Thereof—Sufficiency of Return.
Where the return to a writ of habeas corpus is prepared in so slovenly a manner that the court cannot determine the regularity of the proceedings under which the relator is held without entering the realm of conjecture, the writ will be sustained and the prisoner discharged.
Hearing upon writ of habeas corpus to inquire into the cause of detention.
R. J. Haire, for relator.
Robert S. Johnstone, Assistant District attorneys, for respondent.

Opinion:
Ford J.
If I were permitted to enter the realm of conjecture I might dismiss this writ. I could, and indeed do, guess that the proceedings before the magistrate were entirely regular. But owing to the slovenly manner in which the papers, upon which I am asked to remand the relator, were prepared, and their meaninglessness when scrutinized with that degree of care which should always be employed when the personal liberty of any one is concerned, I must sustain the writ and discharge the prisoner.
Writ sustained.