People ex rel. Edwards v. Warden of the City Prison

The relators in both cases have been brought into court upon habeas corpus writs, to which returns have been made that they are held in custody by the respondent by virtue of a commitment made by one of the city magistrates under a conviction upon a charge of vagrancy.

The copy of the commitment forming a part of the return in each case recites that the relator, being charged on oath with being a vagrant, who in violation of title 3, section 141, of the Greater New York Charter did knowingly reside in a house of prostitution in a tenement-house in certain premises specifically described, was…