United States v. Hall

• Decision Date: 13 May 1889
• Citation: 33 L.Ed. 97,9 S.Ct. 663,131 U.S. 50
• Parties: UNITED STATES v. HALL
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

131 U.S. 50

9 S.Ct. 663

33 L.Ed. 97

UNITED STATES v. HALL.

May 13, 1889.

Sol. Gen. Jenks, for the United States.

Frank H. Hurd, Walter H. Smith, and

Wm. M. Stewart, for defendant.

MILLER, J.

This case comes before us on a certificate of division of opinion between the judges of the circuit court of the United States for the district of California. The record presents an indictment against John D. Hall for making a false oath as to his services as deputy-surveyor of the United States, in regard to the manner in which he had fulfilled a contract for surveying several townships of land in California. The indictment is diffuse and obscure, but it can perhaps be sufficiently ascertained from it that the offense charged against Hall is the false oath, intended to be used in procuring pay for services which the indictment charges were never rendered. It is alleged that the oath set forth in the affidavit was made before T. T. Tidball, a notary public, duly appointed, commissioned, and qualified as such, in and for the county of Monterey, Cal.; and one of the questions certified to us, on which the judges were divided in opinion, is whether a notary public is authorized to administer oaths and certify affidavits of the character and purpose for which that affidavit is alleged to have been prepared. There was a demurrer to the indictment, in which 18 distinct grounds of demurrer are set out; and upon the hearing of this demurrer the judges certified to this court six matters on which they were divided in opinion. They are as follows: (1) Do the facts set forth in this indictment constitute an offense under section 5418 of the Revised Statutes of the United States? (2) Do the facts alleged in this indictment constitute an offense under section 5438 of the Revised Statutes of the United States? (3) Are the words 'falsely makes' in section 5418, Revised Statutes, limited to forged instruments, or instruments in the nature of forged instruments? (4) Does the making of a genuine writing or instrument, signed by the party making it or purporting to make it with his own name, which instrument is false only in its statement of facts, for the purpose of defrauding the United States, constitute the 'falsely making' of a writing or instrument, within the meaning of section 5418 of the Revised Statutes? (5) Is it necessary that an instrument 'falsely made,' purporting to be an affidavit, and actually, knowingly used for the purpose of defrauding the United States, contrary to the statute, should be sworn to before a person authorized to administer oaths for such purposes, in order to constitute an offense under section 5418, Rev. St.? (6) Is a notary public authorized to administer oaths and take and certify affidavits of the character and for the purposes for which the affidavit set out in the indictment is alleged to have been prepared or used?'

Most of these are, by the settled doctrine of this court, insufficient to invoke its jurisdiction. They seem eminently liable to the objection that they are designed to split up the case before the court into fragments, upon which, before a trial or decision by that court, it is intended to obtain the opinion of this court. There are none of them, except the last one we have mentioned, which present, in the manner that we have frequently pointed out, clear and distinct propositions of law to which this court can respond. Association v. Wickham, 128 U. S. 426, ante, 113; Dublin Tp. v. Institution, 128 U. S. 510, ante, 148. But they require, if they should be answered at all, an examination of the very voluminous and loose statement of facts found in the indictment, before an answer could be made, and even then there is no certainty that the answers would turn upon any difficulty existing in the minds of the court which framed them for our consideration. It is...