People v. Schildhaus

The defendant was convicted, after a trial in the Magistrates’ Court of the City of New York, of violations of state and municipal dwelling laws and fined $500 or, in default, 30 days in prison. Electing not to pay the fine, the defendant surrendered and began his term of imprisonment. He subsequently sued out a writ of habeas corpus in the Supreme Court, Bronx County, challenging the jurisdiction of the Magistrates’ Court. The Supreme Court sustained the writ and directed the defendant’s discharge upon the ground that the information on which he had been prosecuted was jurisdictionally…