In re Petition of Noble

• Decision Date: 29 May 1933
• Docket Number: 6024
• Citation: 22 P.2d 873,53 Idaho 211
• Parties: In the Matter of the Petition of ROBERT NOBLE, Jr., for a Writ of Habeas Corpus
• Court: Idaho Supreme Court

22 P.2d 873

53 Idaho 211

In the Matter of the Petition of ROBERT NOBLE, Jr., for a Writ of Habeas Corpus

No. 6024

Supreme Court of Idaho

May 29, 1933

DRUNKARDS-COMMITMENT.

1. Statute authorizing commitment of dipsomaniac or inebriate to asylum is paternal, not penal, and was passed under general police powers (I. C. A., sec. 64-216).

2. Alleged inebriate who, pursuant to order committing him to asylum for forty-five days, was not taken into custody for confinement therein until fifteen months after order, and was not then inebriate held entitled to discharge (I. C. A secs. 19-4315, 64-216).

APPLICATION of Robert Noble, Jr., for a Writ of Habeas Corpus. Petitioner discharged.

Petitioner discharged.

William Healey, for Petitioner.

Earl Coleman, Sheriff for Ada County, made return to the writ appeared without counsel.

WERNETTE, J. Budge, C. J., and Givens, Morgan and Holden, JJ., concur.

OPINION

WERNETTE, J.

This is an application to this court for a writ of habeas corpus. The petitioner, Robert Noble, Jr., was arrested and had a hearing under the provisions of section 64-216, Idaho Code Annotated, as an inebriate. This statute, among other things, provides for the arrest of one accused of having become so far addicted to the intemperate use of narcotics or stimulants as to have lost the power of self-control, or is subject to dipsomania or inebriety, and for hearing upon the accusation before the court, and that if after hearing the judge believes the charge to be true, he must order the accused to be committed to one of the state insane asylums for a definite period, not exceeding two years. In the instant case the hearing was had September 1, 1931, and on January 25, 1932, an order of commitment was issued by the district judge, ordering petitioner's confinement in the asylum at Blackfoot for a period of forty-five days.

Petitioner prosecuted an appeal to this court from the order of commitment, and while the appeal was pending the petitioner was released on his own recognizance. Fifteen months' time elapsed between the date of the order of commitment and the decision of the case on appeal, during all of which time the petitioner had his freedom without supervision or restraint. The appeal was dismissed by this court on the ground that the order of commitment was not an appealable order. (State v. Noble, 52 Idaho 782, 20 P.2d 447.) Upon dismissal of said appeal petitioner was taken into custody by the sheriff of Ada county. Petitioner then made this application for a writ of habeas corpus. The sheriff made his return to the writ setting forth that he was holding said petitioner in custody pursuant to the order of commitment issued January 25, 1932, wherein it was directed that petitioner be confined in the asylum for a period of forty-five days.

Section 64-216, I. C. A., the statute which authorized the hearing and commitment of the petitioner, was passed by the legislature under the authority of its general police powers. In its nature the statute is not penal but paternal. It...