People v. Tompkins
New York Supreme Court
The defendant was brought up on habeas corpus, and on the return of the writ it appeared that he was in custody on a warrant, issued by a police magistrate, charging him "with having defrauded one Benjamin Kathan out of certain stocks in an incorporated company. The defendant put in an answer to the return, denying that there was any complaint or any testimony before the committing magistrate.
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The defendant was brought up on habeas corpus, and on the return of the writ it appeared that he was in custody on a warrant, issued by a police magistrate, charging him "with having defrauded one Benjamin Kathan out of certain stocks in an incorporated company. The defendant put in an answer to the return, denying that there was any complaint or any testimony before the committing magistrate. Whereupon a certiorari was issued, commanding him to make a return of the process and proceedings before him, to which a return was made, setting forth the complaint and all the testimony taken before…
1Opinion of the Court
Edmonds, J.,
delivered the following opinion:
It "was strenuously urged on the argument of this case, on *192the part of the public prosecutor, that, on habeas corpus, the court or officer had no right to go behind the warrant on which the prisoner was detained, and inquire, from facts out of the return, into the legality of the imprisonment.
The effect of this principle would be that the warrant of a committing magistrate, when legal upon its face, would be conclusive upon the prisoner, and he could have no relief from imprisonment, even if no charge whatever had in fact been preferred against him.
T…
2Cases cited3 opinions
- Ex Parte Tobias WatkinsSupreme Court of the United States · 1830
- Bennac v. PeopleNew York Supreme Court · 1848
- Jackson ex dem. Stansbury v. FarmerNew York Supreme Court · 1832
3Cited by4 opinions
- State ex rel. Durner v. HueginWisconsin Supreme Court · 1901
- People v. ReynoldsMichigan Supreme Court · 1888
- Brennan v. StateNebraska Supreme Court · 1942
- Lynch v. DowlingNew York Marine Court · 1878