Matters v. Ryan

• Citation: 63 L.Ed. 654,39 S.Ct. 315,249 U.S. 375
• Decision Date: 14 April 1919
• Docket Number: No. 141,141
• Parties: MATTERS v. RYAN
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

249 U.S. 375

39 S.Ct. 315

63 L.Ed. 654

MATTERS

v RYAN.

No. 141.

Submitted Jan. 16, 1919.

Decided April 14, 1919.

Messrs. Horace Kent Tenney, Roger Sherman, and Harry A. Parkin, all of Chicago, Ill., for appellant.

Mr. Chief Justice WHITE delivered the opinion of the Court.

On the 20th of May, 1916, Margaret Ryan, the appellee, alleging herself to be a subject of the King of Great Britain residing in Ottawa, Canada, applied for a writ of habeas corpus to obtain the possession of her alleged minor child, Irean, by taking her from the asserted illegal custody of Anna D. Matters, the appellant, alleged to be a resident of the state of Illinois.

The petition for habeas corpus charged that the said child was born to petitioner ten months before in a hospital in Ottawa, but shortly after the birth of the child she was kidnapped by the respondent, who secreted her until August, when she brought the child by railroad journey to Chicago from Ottawa and there illegally detained her. It was charged that the cause of action arose under the law of the United States, in that the immigration laws of the United States forbade the bringing of an alien child under 16 years of age from Canada into the United States without being accompanied by its father or mother, in the absence of permission by the immigration authorities of the United States. An order was entered allowing the prosecution of the habeas corpus proceedings in forma pauperis, and the writ issued.

The respondent denied the averments of possession and kidnapping. She alleged that she had a child of her own about 10 months of age, and that if such child was the one referred to in the petition for habeas corpus, the petitioner had no right to the custody of the same. The existence of any right in the petitioner to champion the enforcement of the immigration laws of the United States was denied, and the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the controversy was expressly challenged.

On the return, after hearing, jurisdiction was maintained, the return was held insufficient, and the petitioner was decreed to be entitled to the custody of the child and the appellant was commanded to deliver her. This direct appeal on the question of jurisdiction alone was then taken.

It is settled that 'the jurisdiction of courts of the United States to issue writs of habeas corpus is limited to cases of persons alleged to be restrained of their liberty in violation of the Constitution or of some law or treaty of the...