People of State of New York v. Eno

• Citation: 15 S.Ct. 30,39 L.Ed. 80,155 U.S. 89
• Decision Date: 29 October 1894
• Docket Number: No. 602,602
• Parties: PEOPLE OF STATE OF NEW YORK v. ENO
• Court: United States Supreme Court

155 U.S. 89

15 S.Ct. 30

39 L.Ed. 80

PEOPLE OF STATE OF NEW YORK

v ENO.

No. 602.

October 29, 1894.

John R. Fellows and John D. Lindsey, for the People.

George Bliss, for appellee.

Mr. Justice HARLAN delivered the opinion of the court.

The appellee presented to the court below his petition for a writ of habeas corpus, alleging that he was restrained of his liberty by the warden of the city prison in New York City; that he had not been committed, and was not detained, by virtue of any judgment, decree, final order, or process; that the cause or pretense of such restraint was certain bench warrants issued upon indictments against him in the court of general sessions of the peace of the city and county of New York; and that those indictments, copies of which are exhibited with the petition, charge him with the commission of certain offenses over which that court 'has not and never has had jurisdiction.' The relief asked was that the petitioner be discharged from the custody of the state authorities.

The indictments referred to were five in number, and were based upon the Penal Code of New York, which, among other things, declares any person guilty of forgery in the second degree, and punishable by imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years, who, with intent to defraud, forges an entry made in any book of records or accounts kept by a corporation doing business within the state, or in any account kept by such a corporation, whereby any pecuniary obligation, claim, or credit is or purports to be created, increased, diminished discharged, or in any manner affected; and any person guilty of forgery in the third degree, and punishable by imprisonment for not more than five years, who, with intent to defraud or conceal any larceny or misappropriation of any money or property, alters, erases, obliterates, or destroys an account, book of accounts, record, or writing belonging to or appertaining to the business of a corporation, association, public office or officer, partnership, or individual; or makes a false entry in any such account or book of accounts; or willfully omits to make true entry of any material particular in any such account or book of accounts made, written, or kept by him or under his direction. Pen. Code N. Y. §§ 511, 515, 524, 525.

In some of the indictments the offense is charged to have been committed by Eno in 1883; in the others, in the year 1884.

Each indictment alleges that the offense described was committed by the accused while he was president of the Second National Bank in the city of New York. It also appears from the indictments that the alleged forgeries consisted in the making of certain false entries in the books and accounts of that bank, with intent to defraud, and to conceal the misappropriation of its moneys.

By the Revised Statutes of the United States it is provided:

'Sec. 563. The district courts shall have jurisdiction as follows: First. Of all crimes and offenses cognizable under the authority of the United States, committed within their respective districts, or upon the high seas, the punishment of which is not capital, except in the cases mentioned in section 5412, title, Crimes.'

'Sec. 629. The circuit courts shall have original jurisdiction as follows: * * * Twentieth. Exclusive cognizance of all crimes and offences cognizable under the authority of the United States, except where it is or may be otherwise provided by law, and concurrent jurisdiction with the district courts of crimes and offences cognizable therein.'

'Sec. 711. The jurisdiction vested in the court of the United States in the cases and proceedings hereinafter men- tioned shall be exclusive of the courts of the several states: First. Of all crimes and offences cognizable under the authority of the United States.'

By section 5209, tit. 'National Banks,' it is provided that 'every president, director, cashier, teller, clerk, or agent of any association, who embezzles, abstracts, or wilfully misapplies any of the moneys, funds, or credits of the association; * * * or who makes any false entry in any book, report, or statement of the association, with intent, in either case, to injure or defraud the association or any other company, body politic or corporate, or any individual person, or to deceive any officer of the association, or any agent appointed to examine the affairs of any such association; and every person who with like intent aids or abets any officer, clerk, or agent in violation of this section, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be imprisoned not less than five years nor more than ten.'

'Sec. 5328. Nothing in this title ['Crimes'] shall be held to take away or impair the jurisdiction of the courts of the several states under the laws thereof.'

The circuit court held that the several offifenses for which the defendant was indicted were cognizable under the authority of the United States, and that the jurisdiction vested in the courts of the United States to punish them was exclusive of the courts of the state; and for that reason it was adjudged that the accused was restrained on his liberty in violation of the constitution and laws of the United States. He was consequently discharged from custody. The court in its opinion said that 'if any serious doubt were entertained as to the want of jurisdiction of the court of general sessions of the city of New York, and the consequent want of authority to retain the petitioner in custody, such a disposition of the present proceeding would be made as would permit that question to be raised, in the event of a conviction upon the indictment, after a trial.' 54 Fed. 669.

The circumstances under which a court of the United States is at liberty upon habeas corpus to discharge one held in custody under the process of a state court were considered in Ex parte Royall, 117 U. S. 241, 252, 6 Sup. Ct. 734. Royall was charged by indictments in one of the courts of Virginia with having violated certain statutes of that commonwealth. Being held in custody by the state authorities for trial, he presented petitions for habeas corpus in the circuit court of the United States for the Eastern district of Virginia, and prayed to be discharged upon the ground that the statutes under which he had been indicted were repugnant to the constitution of the United States, and, consequently, that he was restrained of his liberty in violation of that instrument. Rev. St. §§ 751-755, 761, 764; Act March 3, 1885, c. 353 (23 Stat. 437). The petitions were dismissed, and the cases were brought by appeal to this court.

This court held that congress intended to invest the courts of the Union, and the justices and judges thereof, with power, upon writ of habeas corpus, to restore to liberty any person within their respective jurisdictions who is held in custody, by whatever authority, in violation of the constitution or any law or treaty of the United States; that the statute contemplated that cases might arise when the power thus conferred should be exercised during the progress of proceedings instituted against the petitioner in a state court, or by or under the authority of a state, on account of the very matter presented for determination by the writ of habeas corpus. But it was adjudged that the statute did not imperatively require the circuit court, by writ of habeas corpus, to wrest the petitioner from the custody of the state officers in advance of his trial in the state court; that while the circuit court of the United States has the power to do so, and could discharge the accused in advance of his trial, if he be restrained of his liberty in violation of the national constitution, it is not bound in every case to exercise such power immediately upon application being made for the writ.

'We cannot suppose,' the court said, 'that congress intended to compel those courts, by such means, to draw to themselves, in the first instance, the control of all criminal prosecutions commenced in state courts exercising authority within the same territorial limits where the accused claims that he is held in custody in violation of the constitution of the United States. The injunction to hear the case summarily, and thereupon 'to dispose of the party as law and justice require,' does not deprive the court of discretion as to the time and mode in which it will exert the powers conferred upon it. That discretion should be exercised in the light of the relations existing, under our system of government, between the judicial tribunals of the Union and of the states, and in recognition of the fact that the public good requires that those relations be not disturbed by unnecessary conflict between courts equally bound to guard and protect rights secured by the constitution. When the petitioner is in custody by state authority for an act done or omitted to be done in pursuance of a law of the United States, or of an order, process, or decree of a court or judge thereof; or where, being a subject or citizen of a foreign state, and domiciled therein, he is in custody, under like authority, for an act done or omitted under any alleged right, title, authority, privilege, protection, or exemption claimed under the commission, or order, or sanction of any...