United States v. Waddell

Decision Date03 November 1884
Citation112 U.S. 76,28 L.Ed. 673,5 S.Ct. 35
PartiesUNITED STATES v. WADDELL and others. 1
CourtU.S. Supreme Court

Sol. Gen. Phillips, for plaintiff.

Jos. W. Martin, for defendants.

MILLER, J.

This case arises on a criminal information filed by the district attorney of the United States for the Eastern district of Arkansas in the circuit court for that district. The defendants demurred to the information, and, on consideration of the demurrer, the judges of that court were divided in opinion on three questions, which they have certified to this court, as follows: '(1) Whether section 5508 of the Revised Statutes is a constitutional and valid law. (2) Whether the information in said cause charged and offence under said section 5508 of the Revised Statutes of the United States or against any statute of the United States. (3) Whether the demurrer to said information was well taken and should be sustained.'

The first and second counts of the information undertake to set out a conspiracy of the defendants, under section 5508, to deprive or hinder Burrell Lindsey, a citizen of the United States, of the right to establish his claim to certain lands of the United States under the homestead acts, namely, sections 2289, 2290, and 2291 of the Revised Statutes. And the third count, without charging a conspiracy, states that defendants went upon the land of the United States, occupied by said Lindsey as a homestead, with intent to prevent and hinder him from residing upon and improving said land, and maturing the title to himself to said homestead entry, a right secured to him by the sections of the Revised Statutes aforesaid. The first question certified to us, as to the constitutional validity of section 5508 of the Revised Statutes, was answered in the affirmative by the unanimous opinion of this court in Yarbrough's Case, 110 U. S. 651; S. C. 4 SUP. CT. REP. 152. It is not deemed necessary or appropriate to add to what was there so recently said on that subject. The first question must therefore be answered affirmatively.

Does the information charge any offense under that section? The section reads thus: 'If two or more persons conspire to injure or oppress threaten or intimidate, any citizen in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same; or if two or more persons go in disguise on the highway, or on the premises of another, with intent to prevent or hinder his free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege so secured,—they shall be fined not more than five thousand dollars and imprisoned not more than ten years; and shall, moreover, be thereafter ineligible to any office, or place of honor, profit, or trust created by the constitution or laws of the United States.' The substance of the first two counts of the information is that Burrell Lindsey, a citizen of the United States, made on the thirtieth day of December, 1882, at the United States land-office at Little Rock, a homestead entry on a quarter section of land subject to entry at that place: that afterwards, to-wit, on the tenth day of January, 1883, while residing on and cultivating said land for the purpose of perfecting his right to the same, under the laws of the United States on that subject, namely, sections 2289, 2290, and 2291 of the Revised statutes, the defendant conspired to injure and oppress him, and to intimidate and threaten him in the free exercise and enjoyment of that right and because of his having exercised it, and to prevent his compliance with those laws; and in the second count, that, in pursuance of this conspiracy, they did, upon said homestead tract, with force and arms, fire off loaded guns and pistols in the cabin of said Lindsey, and did then and there drive him from his home on said homestead entry. The third count charges that the defendants went in disguise on said premises while occupied by said Lindsey, with intent to prevent and hinder the free exercise of and enjoyment by him of the right and privilege to make said homestead entry on lands of the United States secured to him by the constitution and laws of the United States, and the right to cultivate and improve said land, and to mature his title as provided by the statute already referred to.

It seems clear enough that the allegation of a conspiracy to prevent Lindsey from exercising the right to make effectual his homestead entry, and the acts done in pursuance of that conspiracy, and the going in disguise to his house for the same purpose, are stated with reasonable precision so as to bring the case within section 5508, if the right which he was exercising was one within the meaning of that section and within the constitutional power of congress to protect by this legislation. In reference to this latter qualification, the statute itself is careful to limit its operation to an obstruction or oppression in 'the free exercise of a right or privilege secured by the constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having exercised such rights.' The protection of this section extends to no other right,—to no right or privilege dependent on a law or laws of the state. Its object is to guaranty safety and protection to persons in the exercise of rights dependent on the laws of the United States, including, of course, the constitution and treaties as well as statutes, and it does not, in this section, at least, design to protect any other rights.

The right assailed, obstructed, and its exercise prevented or intended to be prevented, as set out in this petition, is very clearly a right wholly dependent upon the act of congress concerning the settlement and sale of the public lands of the United States. No such right exists or can exist outside of an act of congress. The constitution of the United States, by article 4, § 3, in express terms vests in congress 'the power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property of the United States.' One of its regulations—the one under consideration—authorizes a class of persons, of whom Lindsey is one, to settle upon its land, and, on payment of an inconsiderable sum of money and the written declaration of intent to make it a homestead, he is authorized to reside there. By building a house and making other improvements on it, and residing there for five years consecutively, which, under the statute and...

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    ...officers. Ku Klux Cases, 110 U.S. 651, 4 S.Ct. 152, 28 L.Ed. 274 (1884); (4) the right to enter public lands. United States v. Waddell, 112 U.S. 76, 5 S.Ct. 35, 28 L.Ed. 673 (1884); (5) the right to be protected from violence while in the lawful custody of a United States Marshal. Logan v. ......
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    ...Wiley v. Sinkler, 179 U. S. 58, 45 L. ed. 84, 21 Sup. Ct. Rep. 17); the right to enter the public lands (United States v. Waddell, 112 U. S. 76, 28 L. ed. 673, 5 Sup. Ct. Rep. 35); the right to be protected against violence while in the lawful custody of a United States marshal (Logan v. Un......
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    ...690, 53 L.Ed. 653, or which were created by Congress in the legitimate exercise of its Article I powers, see United States v. Waddell, 112 U.S. 76, 5 S.Ct. 35, 28 L.Ed. 673. 4. It was brought to the attention of Congress in 1871 that 'rights, privileges, or immunities' was a more extensive ......
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  • Bankruptcy - Robert B. Chapman
    • United States
    • Mercer University School of Law Mercer Law Reviews No. 53-4, June 2002
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    ...F. Supp. 539 (1979). 166. Wiley v. Sinkler, 179 U.S. 58 (1899); Ex parte Yarbrough, 110 U.S. 651 (1884). 167. United States v. Waddell, 112 U.S. 76 (1884). And let us not forget the right to access to seaports, subtreasuries, and land offices. Slaughterhouse Cases, 83 U.S. at 79. 168. Logan......

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