Bronk v. State

• Decision Date: 13 July 1901
• Citation: 43 Fla. 461,31 So. 248
• Parties: BRONK v. STATE.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

31 So. 248

43 Fla. 461

BRONK v. STATE.

Florida Supreme Court

July 13, 1901

Error to circuit court, Volusia county; Minor S. Jones, Judge.

Application for a writ of habeas corpus by John Parker Bronk. From an order dismissing the writ, petitioner brings error. Affirmed.

Syllabus by the Court

SYLLABUS

1. Neither error nor the regularity of judicial proceedings can be reviewed on habeas corpus, whether it be some informality of procedure before trial, error in the sentence itself, or some irregularity subsequent to sentence. If the record shows that the judgment, order, or process under which the party is held is not merely erroneous, but such as could not under any circumstances, or upon any state of facts, have been pronounced or awarded by the court ordering or issuing it then the party is entitled to discharge. But if the judgment is merely erroneous,--the court having given a wrong judgment when it had jurisdiction,--the party aggrieved can only have relief by writ of error or other process of review. He cannot be relieved summarily by habeas corpus. The failure of the judge to exact a bond from the complainant to the defendant before issuing a writ of ne exeat as provided for by section 1474, Rev. St., can be reviewed only in a direct proceeding on appeal, and cannot be inquired into collaterally by habeas corpus.

2. The judgment of a court, made within its jurisdiction, that involved the adjudication of jurisdictional facts, cannot be attacked collaterally on habeas corpus.

3. Under our system of jurisprudence, where our courts of equity are clothed with plenary jurisdiction over the entire subject of granting divorces, and maintenance and alimony to wives either with or without divorce, and also with power to issue the writ of ne exeat for the enforcement of their decrees in such cases, such writ of ne exeat may be issued by our equity courts in suits for maintenance, before a decree is rendered fixing an amount to be paid, in all cases where it seems just to the chancellor to issue it, and a necessity therefor exists.

4. Alimony or maintenance from the husband to the wife is not a debt, within the meaning of the constitutional inhibition against imprisonment for debt.

5. On a writ of error taken by a husband to review the judgment of the circuit court in a habeas corpus proceeding instituted by him for the purpose of securing his discharge from imprisonment under a writ of ne exeat issued in a suit against him by his wife for maintenance, the wife has no such standing before the appellate court as will entitle her to ask at its hands counsel fees of alimony pending such writ of error in the habeas corpus proceeding.

COUNSEL Isaac A. Stewart (Egford Bly, on the brief), for plaintiff in error.

F. W. Marsh, Jas. D. Beggs, and Geo. B. Perkins for the State.

OPINION

TAYLOR, C.J.

John Parker Bronk, the plaintiff in error, filed his petition on the 3d day of May, 1901, in this, the supreme court, for a writ of habeas corpus, addressed to the chief justice, who ordered the issuance of the writ, making the same returnable, as is almost invariably the custom of this court in such cases, before the judge in whose jurisdiction the detention was had. Section 1771, Rev. St. The petition for the writ was substantially as follows: 'Your petitioner, John Parker Bronk, respectfully represents that he is imprisoned and detained in custody without lawful authority, and illegally restrained of his liberty, by J. R. Turner, the sheriff of Volusia county, Florida, at De Land, in said county, by virtue of an order of Hon. Minor S. Jones, judge of the circuit court of the Seventh judicial circuit of the state of Florida, in and for said county of Volusia, issued under the following circumstances: On the 19th day of April, 1901, one Lillie L. P. Bronk, claiming to be the wife of your petitioner, filed her bill of complaint in the circuit court of said county of Volusia, in chancery, against petitioner and his son Frederick Bronk, praying for alimony against your petitioner, and the cancellation of certain alleged conveyances from petitioner to said Frederick Bronk; that thereupon, on the 20th day of April A. D. 1901, without any bond being required of complainant, and without any alimony having been decreed against petitioner, your petitioner was taken in custody by said J. R. Turner under a writ of ne exeat issued in said cause, requiring petitioner to procure bail in the sum of ten thousand dollars that he would not go beyond this state without leave of court, and that he would abide by and comply with all lawful orders and decrees of said court, and that, in case your petitioner should refuse to give such bail, your petitioner should be forthwith brought in custody of said sheriff before said judge at Titusville for further proceedings in the premises, until he shall do it of his own accord (copy of said writ is hereto attached, and made part of this petition); that your petitioner was unable to give bail as required by said writ, and was thereupon held in custody and deprived of his liberty by said J. R. Turner, sheriff as aforesaid; that on the 25th day of April, A. D. 1901, petitioner moved before Hon. Minor S. Jones, judge as aforesaid, that said writ of ne exeat be quashed and vacated; that said judge denied said motion, and ordered your petitioner to be held in custody and detained of his liberty and imprisoned in the common jail of Volusia county unless and until your petitioner should give bond in the sum of $10,000 that he will not depart without the state of Florida without the leave of the court, and abide by and conform to all lawful orders and decrees made in said cause, and pay the alimony and other sums decreed by said court to be due, or upon appeal by the appellate court. A copy of said order is hereto attached, and made part of this petition. And your petitioner says that said detention, confinement, and restraint is unlawful, for the following reasons: (1) Because said writ of ne exeat was issued without bond from complainant to petitioner as required by law; that the court was without jurisdiction to issue said order without bond, and the same was and is illegal and void. (2) Because in alimony proceedings the court has no jurisdiction to issue writ of ne exeat until alimony has been decreed, and, no alimony having been decreed against petitioner, the said order was and is illegal and void. (3) Because said order is in excess of the jurisdiction of the court, and is illegal and void. (4) Because at the time of the filing of the bill of complaint neither the complainant nor either of the defendants were, and are not now, residents of the state of Florida, and none of the property mentioned in said bill has ever been within the limits of this state, and the court has no jurisdiction to decree alimony in said cause, or to issue the writ of ne exeat, and the said writ and order were and are illegal and void. Wherefore your petitioner prays that a writ of habeas corpus may be granted and issued, directed to said J. R. Turner, sheriff as aforesaid, commanding him to bring and produce before this honorable court, at the place and time in said writ specified, the body of said John Parker Bronk, together with the cause of his detention, and that said John Parker Bronk, your petitioner, may be restored his personal liberty.'

Attached as exhibits to said petition for the writ of habeas corpus were copies of the two following documents:

'In the Circuit Court of Volusia County, State of Florida. In the Name of the State of Florida: To All and Singular the Sheriffs of the State of Florida: Whereas, it is represented to said honorable court, sitting in chancery, on the part of Lillie L. P. Bronk, complainant, against John Parker Bronk, and other defendants, among other things, that he, the said John Parker Bronk, defendant, is greatly indebted to the said complainant on account of alimony and other causes, and designs quickly to go into parts without this state, as by oath made on that behalf appears, which tends to the great prejudice and damage of the said complainant, therefore, in order to prevent this injustice, we hereby command you, that you do, without delay, cause the said John Parker Bronk personally to come before you and give sufficient bail or security in the sum of ten thousand dollars, to be approved by the clerk, that the said John Parker Bronk will not go, nor attempt to go, into parts beyond this state without leave of our said court, and that he will abide by and comply with all lawful orders and decrees of our said court; and, in case the said John Parker Bronk shall refuse to give such bail or security, then you are to bring him, the said John Parker Bronk, in custody before me, at Titusville, in said district, forthwith, for further proceeding in the premises until he shall do it of his own accord; and when you have taken such security you are forthwith to make and return a certificate thereof, together with this writ, to us, in our said court of chancery, distinctly and plainly, under your hand. Witness the Honorable Minor S. Jones, judge of the circuit court in and for the county of Volusia, in the Seventh judicial circuit of the state of Florida, and the seal of said court, this twentieth day of April, A. D. 1901. Sam'l D. Jordan, Clerk of the Circuit Court, Volusia County, Florida. [Seal.]

'In the Circuit Court of Volusia County, State of Florida. Lillie L. P. Bronk vs. J. P. Bronk et al. The defendant John Parker Bronk being brought before me, in chambers, at Titusville, this day, under the writ of ne exeat issued in compliance with the order of this court made on the 19th day of April, A. D. 1901, for further proceedings in the said cause, and it appearing that the defendant

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