The United States, Plaintiff v. Ephraim Briggs

• Decision Date: 01 January 1847
• Citation: 5 How. 208,12 L.Ed. 119,46 U.S. 208
• Parties: THE UNITED STATES, PLAINTIFF, v. EPHRAIM BRIGGS
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

46 U.S. 208

5 How. 208

12 L.Ed. 119

THE UNITED STATES, PLAINTIFF, v. EPHRAIM BRIGGS.

January Term, 1847

THIS case came up from the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of Michigan, on a certificate of division in opinion.²

The circumstances of the case are thus stated by the Chief Justice, as introductory to the opinion of the court.

This case comes before the court upon a certificate of division from the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of Michigan.

The defendant was indicted under the act of Congress of March 2, 1831, ch. 66 (4 Stat. at L., 472), for unlawfully cutting timber upon certain lands of the United States, called the Wyandotte reserve. He demurred to the indictment upon the following grounds:——

First. Because the offence stated and set forth in the indictment is not an offence under the statute of the United States, punishable cirminally by indictment.

Second. Because, under the statutes of the United States, trespass on the public lands of the United States is, in no case, an offence punishable criminally by indictment; but is either a mere trespass, punishable by action of trespass at common law, or by action of debt in the statute.

Third. For that the said indictment is in other respects informal, insufficient, and defective.

The United States joined in demurrer; and the record states, that the demurrer coming on to be heard, and having been argued by counsel on either side, the opinions of the court were opposed as to the point whether said demurrer should be sustained; and thereupon it was ordered that the cause be certified to this court on the indictment, demurrer, and joinder thereto.

The cause was argued by Mr. Clifford (Attorney-General) and Mr. Norvell, on behalf of the United States.

Mr. Chief Justice TANEY, after stating the case as above, proceeded to deliver the opinion of the court.

The act of Congress of April 29, 1802, ch. 31, § 6, provides, that whenever a question shall occur before a Circuit Court, upon which the opinions of the judges shall be opposed, the point on which the disagreement shall happen, upon the request of either party, shall be stated, and certified to this court, to be finally decided. It is this act alone that gives jurisdiction to the Supreme Court in cases of division of opinion in the Circuit Court, and the jurisdiction thus given must of course be exercised in the manner pointed out in the law. Consequently, we are not authorized to decide...