Duren v. Stephens

The plaintiff in error, Tom Duren, was tried in the mayor’s court of the City of Thomasville for an alleged violation of a municipal ordinance which declared that it should be “unlawful for any person, firm, or corporation to keep or have on hand, or in possession for sale, barter, 'or exchange, any spirituous, malt, or intoxicating liquors within the city.” Upon conviction Duren was imprisoned and placed at labor upon the streets of the city, in accordance with the sentence passed upon him. He sued out a writ of habeas corpus against the city marshal, to . whose custody he had been…