(DOWNLOAD) "Ex Parte Burford" by United States Supreme Court # Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Ex Parte Burford
- Author : United States Supreme Court
- Release Date : January 01, 1806
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 52 KB
Description
JOHN ATKINS BURFORD, a prisoner confined in the jail of the county of Alexandria, in the district of Columbia, petitioned this court for a habeas corpus, to inquire into the cause of his commitment, alleging that he was confined under and by colour of process of the United States, and praying for a certiorari to the clerk of the circuit court of the district of Columbia, for the county of Washington, to certify the record by which his cause of commitment might be examined, and its legality investigated. To the petition was annexed a copy of his commitment, certified by the jailor of Alexandria county. Hiort, for the petitioner, observed, that he was aware of the decision of this court in the case of Marbury v. Madison, ante, vol. 1, that a mandamus would not lie in this court when it operated as an original process; but there is a vast difference between a mandamus and a writ of habeas corpus. The former is a high prerogative writ, issuing at the discretion of the court, but this is a writ of right, and cannot be refused. The constitution of the United States, art. 1, § 9, declares, 'that it shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it.' By the 14th section of the judiciary act of 1789, vol. 1, p. 58, it is enacted, 'that all the before mentioned courts of the United States,' (including the supreme court) 'shall have power to issue writs of scire facias, habeas corpus, and all other writs,' &c. 'And that either of the justices of the supreme court, as well as judges of the district courts, shall have power to grant writs of habeas corpus, for the purpose of an inquiry into the cause of commitment.' If a single justice of this court has the power, it would be a strange construction of the law, and of the constitution, to say that the whole court cannot exercise the same power.