Task: songer_typeiss

What follows is an opinion from a United States Court of Appeals.
Your task is to determine the general category of issues discussed in the opinion of the court. Choose among the following categories. Criminal and prisioner petitions- includes appeals of conviction, petitions for post conviction relief, habeas corpus petitions, and other prisoner petitions which challenge the validity of the conviction or the sentence or the validity of continued confinement. Civil - Government - these will include appeals from administrative agencies (e.g., OSHA,FDA), the decisions of administrative law judges, or the decisions of independent regulatory agencies (e.g., NLRB, FCC,SEC). The focus in administrative law is usually on procedural principles that apply to administrative agencies as they affect private interests, primarily through rulemaking and adjudication. Tort actions against the government, including petitions by prisoners which challenge the conditions of their confinement or which seek damages for torts committed by prion officials or by police fit in this category. In addition, this category will include suits over taxes and claims for benefits from government. Diversity of Citizenship - civil cases involving disputes between citizens of different states (remember that businesses have state citizenship). These cases will always involve the application of state or local law. If the case is centrally concerned with the application or interpretation of federal law then it is not a diversity case. Civil Disputes - Private - includes all civil cases that do not fit in any of the above categories. The opposing litigants will be individuals, businesses or groups.

HAND, Circuit Judge.
The respondent, Ehrbom, was appointed on March 10, 1924, ancillary receiver in bankruptcy of the Champion Tool Company by order of the District Court for the Southern District of New York. On April 15, .1924, he applied to that court for an order directing the petitioner to appear for examination under section 21a of the Bankruptcy Act (Comp. St. § 9605) before one of the referees in bankruptcy as special commissioner. The order was granted, and the clerk directed to issue a subpoena to secure his attendance. The clerk issued the subpoena, and it was served upon him in the city of Newark, N. J., and therefore outside the Southern district of New York, though within 100 miles of the place where he lived. Deeming the subpoena invalid, he refused to obey it, and the receiver thereupon aqqdiod to the court for an order adjudging him in contempt. The District Court so hold, and it is this order which the petition seeks to revise.
The petitioner relies upon the proviso to section 41a of the Bankruptcy Act (Comp. St. § 9625), which reads as follows: “No person shall bo required to attend as a witness before a referee at a place outside of the state o f his residence, and more than one hundred miles from such place of residence.” The respondent, on the other hand, relies upon section 876 of the Revised Statutes (Comp. St. § 1487), under which in civil causes witnesses may be subpoenaed outside of the district, provided they do not 'live more than 100 miles from the place where the court is held. •
The question is a formal one and depends upon the meaning of section 21a, which allows “a court of bankruptcy” to require any one “to appear in court or before a referee or the judge of any state court” for examination. The referee, by section la (7), being Comp. St. § 9585, may be a court of bankruptcy, but only, we think, when he acts as referee. There can be no doubt that, if the order had required the petitioner to appear before the District Judge in person, the subpoena would have been good under section 876 of the Revised Statutes, and we will assume, without deciding, that the proviso to section 41a was correctly interpreted in Re Hemsfreet (D. C.) 117 F. 568, and Re Cole (D. C.) 133 F. 414, and that the referee could not have called him from outside the Southern district of New York.
Nevertheless we adhere to the established conception of a special commissioner, as directly representing the court and as acting merely as its immediate delegate. The distinction between such commissioners and referees in bankruptcy is of long standing, and we should he unwilling to confuse the law by extending the word “referee,” in section 41a, beyond its conventional limitation.
The petition is dismissed, and the order affirmed.

Question: What is the general category of issues discussed in the opinion of the court?
A. criminal and prisoner petitions
B. civil - government
C. diversity of citizenship
D. civil - private
E. other, not applicable
F. not ascertained
Answer:

Answer: D