In re Motley

The relator was, by one of the city magistrates, committed to the workhouse for thirty days on a summary conviction for disorderly conduct, and her discharge is demanded on the ground that such commitment is unauthorized. The magistrate being an officer of inferior jurisdiction, his power to act must be based upon some statute expressly conferring the authority which he assumed to exercise. Code Grim. Proc., § 74. Under the former Revised Statutes the power of such a magistrate on summary conviction for disorderly conduct was limited to requiring the offender to give sufficient sureties for…