In Re Schnitzer

We issued a writ of habeas corpus and an ancillary writ of certiorari to inquire into the validity of an order adjudging petitioner in contempt for refusing to answer questions put to him in the course of a one-man grand jury proceeding pursuant to 3 Comp. Laws 1929, § 17217 (Stat. Ann. § 28.943), “for investigation into gambling and matters in connection therewith.” The question for our determination is whether his silence was ‘ ‘ contumacious or privileged.” (Cardozo, J., in Re Doyle, 257 N. Y. 244 [177 N. E. 489, 87 A. L. R. 418]).

^Petitioner was sworn as a witness and the following…