Case Name: Ellen Bigby and Gus Harris v. City of Tyler
Court: Supreme Court of Texas
Jurisdiction: Texas
Decision Date: 1875
Citations: 44 Tex. 351
Docket Number: 
Parties: Ellen Bigby and Gus Harris v. City of Tyler.
Judges: 
Reporter: Texas Reports
Volume: 44
Pages: 351–353

Head Matter:
Ellen Bigby and Gus Harris v. City of Tyler.
Jurisdiction of mayors.—The Constitution of 1869 provides for only-five justices of the peace in each county, and makes no reference to a mayor, and since its adoption a mayor of a city is not ex officio a justice of the peace, and his authority is limitedto such grant of power as may be contained in the charter of incorporation under which he acts, and to such laws as may relate to him as mayor, and not as a justice of the peace.
Habeas Corpus.—The relators, Bigby and Harris, complained of illegal arrest and detention under a capias issued by the mayor of the city of Tyler, charging them with keeping a house of public prostitution in the city of Tyler.
The city marshal, in his return, set up proceedings instituted before the mayor of the city of Tyler, and a capias by him issued, under which the marshal held the relators in custody.
No briefs filed.

Opinion:
Roberts, Chief Justice.
The prisoners have been tried and convicted before the mayor of the city of Tyler for an offense prescribed by the code, to wit, for keeping a house for public prostitution, fined fifty dollars each and costs, and ordered " to remain in the hands of the city marshal until the fine and costs are paid." Their discharge is asked upon the ground that the judgment of conviction for said offense is a nullity.
It is proposed to do hut little more than to state our conclusions.
The fine imposed under the city ordinance for this offense is an amount not exceeding one hundred dollars.
The Code of Criminal Procedure made mayors of cities magistrates, and formerly they exercised the powers of justices of the peace in the trial of criminal offenses. (Paschal's Dig., arts. 2519, 2532.)
By the code originally they were expressly given jurisdiction to try cases of vagrants and disorderly persons. (Paschal's Dig., art. 2528.)
An amendment of the code places the penalty above the jurisdiction of a justice of the peace for a final trial, the fine being not less than one and not more than five hundred dollars. (Paschal's Dig., art. 2029.)
The Constitution of 1869 provides for only five justices of the peace in each county, and makes no reference to a mayor. This court has held that a mayor of a city, since the adoption of that Constitution, is not a justice of the peace, and that his authority is limited to such grant of power as maybe contained in the charter of incorporation under which he acts, and to such laws as may relate to him as mayor and not as a justice of the peace, as was formerly the case.
We find in the act of incorporation of the city of Tyler no authority granted to the mayor to try this offense and render a final judgment, as was done in this case. It is a case properly cognizable by the Criminal Court of the city of Tyler, and the defendants may he proceeded against as in any other case of which that court has jurisdiction.
The prisoners must therefore he discharged and judgment entered accordingly.
Relators discharged.