Schmedding v. May
| Decision Date | 27 February 1891 |
| Citation | 85 Mich. 1,48 N.W. 201 |
| Court | Michigan Supreme Court |
| Parties | SCHMEDDING v. MAY, Wayne County Clerk. |
Motion for writ of mandamus.
Wm. Look and H. F. Chipman, for relator. H. C. Wisner, for respondent.
The relator is a newspaper reporter for the Detroit Abend Post, a daily newspaper published in the city of Detroit. He prays in this proceeding for the writ of mandamus to compel the respondent to submit to him for inspection certain books, records, and files hereinafter specified. The petition, after setting forth the occupation of relator, the character and business of said newspaper, and the statement that it has been customary to publish in its columns the records and proceedings of the courts of said county contains the following: "Your petitioner further says it is the purpose and policy of said Daily Detroit Abend Post and its business, to disseminate and publish useful information and news among the people, citizens, and residents of the city of Detroit, county of Wayne, and state of Michigan, and to publish such matters relating to the current events of the day which happen, as well in the city of Detroit as in all parts of the world, as are demanded by public curiosity, taste, and business; and it is further the purpose and intention, and the policy, of said Daily Detroit Abend Post to publish, in brief narrative form, all and the whole of the proceedings and causes commenced and pending in the courts of the said county of Wayne, so far as the same is revealed by the files, records, proceedings, and sittings of said court, in an impartial and just manner, without desire or intention to injure, or in any manner to prejudice, the rights of litigants, or to express opinions upon the merits of the matters in controversy between such litigants, and thereby jeopardize, or in any manner impair, the rights of parties to said causes, or to attempt to influence the decrees or judgments of said court, or the verdicts or de cisions of the juries impaneled in said causes, or to prevent, influence, compel, or hinder in any manner whatsoever a fair and impartial trial of any or all of the matters and things in controversy and being litigated in any cause brought before the courts of said county; and it is also the purpose of said Daily Detroit Abend Post to give publicity in all legal proceedings, so far as that object can be obtained without injustice or injury to the parties immediately concerned, and at the same time to present to the public, as fully as they are presented in court, the material portions of such proceedings, and not conclusions, drawn from the files, records, proceedings, and trials of causes and suits in said courts for the county of Wayne and said county clerk's office; and also to inform litigants witnesses, and suitors of the course and stages of proceedings and trials in said courts for the county of Wayne, and of the commencement of suits, and the names of the parties thereto, and the grounds upon which the same are brought." The petition then alleges that the respondent is the custodian of the records, files, and books of said court; that it was the duty of the respondent to furnish the relator proper and reasonable facilities for the inspection and examination thereof; that among the books so in the custody of the respondent is an "Entry Book," containing the date of, file number, and title of each and every suit brought in said court; that, upon an examination of said book, relator found the following: that he applied to respondent to show him the files in said suit and the calendar, but that respondent refused to do so, and would not permit relator to see and examine the records and files in said cause, or the calendar entries therein. It is unnecessary to here state the other allegations in the petition. The prayer of the petition is that respondent furnish relator the following: (1) Proper and reasonable facilities for the examination of the record and files in said cause, so that he may make memoranda or transcripts therefrom; (2) the papers filed in said cause; (3) the files and records in said cause; (4) the books containing a record of the entries in said cause; and (5) the calendar, that he may inspect the entries made therein in said cause. The respondent admits the material facts charged in said petition, and further returns that said cause No. 11,572 was commenced by the filing of a bill of complaint, which complainant's solicitor, at the time of filing, requested to be suppressed, meaning thereby that respondent would not...
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