COLEMAN v. TENNESSEE
Supreme Court of the United States
October Term, 1878
97 U.S. 509
Without further elaboration, we deem it only necessary to say that the Kentucky statute does not, in our judgment, contravene the provisions of the Federal Constitution, or of any statute passed in pursuance thereof. Its enforcement causes no necessary conflict with national authority, and interferes with no right secured by Federal legislation, to the patentee or his assigns.
We perceive no error in the judgment, and it is
Affirmed.
MR. JUSTICE HUNT did not sit in this case, nor take any part in deciding it.
COLEMAN v. TENNESSEE.
- The thirtieth section of the act of March 3, 1863 (12 Stat. 731), entitled “An Act for enrolling and calling out the national forces, and for other purposes,” did not make the jurisdiction of the military tribunals over the offences therein designated, when committed by persons in the military service of the United States, and subject to the articles of war, exclusive of that of such courts of the loyal States as were open and in the undisturbed exercise of their jurisdiction.
- When the territory of the States, which were banded together in hostility to the national government, and making war against it, was in the military occupation of the United States, the tribunals mentioned in said section had, under the authority conferred thereby, and under the laws of war, exclusive jurisdiction to try and punish offences of every grade committed there by persons in the military service.
- Officers and soldiers of the army of the United States were not subject to the laws of the enemy, nor amenable to his tribunals for offences com-
mitted by them during the war. They were answerable only to their own government, and only by its laws, as enforced by its armies, could they be punished. - Unless suspended or superseded by the commander of the forces of the United States which occupied Tennessee, the laws of that State, so far as they affected its inhabitants among themselves, remained in force during the war, and over them its tribunals, unless superseded by him, continued to exercise their ordinary jurisdiction.
- A., charged with having committed murder, in Tennessee, whilst he was there in the military service of the United States during the rebellion, was, by a court-martial, then and there convicted, and sentenced to suffer death. The sentence, for some cause unknown, was not carried into effect. After the constitutional relations of that State to the Union were restored, he was, in one of her courts, indicted for the same murder. To the indictment he pleaded his conviction before the court-martial. The plea being overruled, he was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. Held, 1. That the State court had no jurisdiction to try him for the offence, as he, at the time of committing it, was not amenable to the laws of Tennessee. 2. That his plea, although not proper, inasmuch as it admitted the jurisdiction of that court to try and punish him for the offence, if it were not for such former conviction, would not prevent this court from giving effect to the objection taken in this irregular way to such jurisdiction. Accordingly, this court reverses the judgment, and directs the discharge of A. from custody under the indictment.
ERROR to the Supreme Court of the State of Tennessee.
The facts are stated in the opinion of the court.
Mr. Henry S. Foote and Mr. Leonidas C. Houk for the plaintiff in error.
Mr. J. B. Heiskell, contra.
MR. JUSTICE FIELD delivered the opinion of the court.
This case comes before us from the Supreme Court of Tennessee. The plaintiff in error, the defendant in the court below, was indicted in the Criminal Court for the District of Knox County in that State, on the 2d of October, 1874, for the murder of one Mourning Ann Bell, alleged to have been committed in that county on the 7th of March, 1865. To this indictment he pleaded not guilty, and a former conviction for the same offence by a general court-martial regularly convened for his trial at Knoxville, Tenn., on the 27th of March, 1865, the United States at that time, and when the offence was committed, occupying with their armies East Tennessee as a military district, and the defendant being a regular soldier in their
Objection being taken by demurrer to this plea, it was twice amended by leave of the court. The first amendment consisted in setting forth with particularity the organization of the court-martial, and the proceedings before it upon which the defendant was convicted of the offence with which he is charged in the indictment. The second amendment consisted in adding an averment that the offence charged was committed, and that the court-martial which tried the defendant was held in time of civil war, insurrection, and rebellion.
To the plea thus amended a demurrer was sustained, on two grounds; one of which was, in substance, that the defendant‘s conviction of the offence charged by a court-martial, under the laws of the United States, on the 9th of May, 1865, was not a bar to the indictment for the same offence; because by the murder alleged he was also guilty of an offence against the laws of Tennessee.
The defendant was thereupon put upon his trial in the Criminal Court, convicted of murder, and sentenced to death. On appeal to the Supreme Court of the State the judgment was affirmed.
Pending the appeal to that court, the defendant was brought before the Circuit Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Tennessee on habeas corpus, upon a petition stating that he was unlawfully restrained of his liberty and imprisoned
The case being brought to this court, it has been argued as though its determination depended upon the construction given to the thirtieth section of the act of Congress of March 3, 1863, to enroll and call out the national forces, the defendant‘s coun-
“That in time of war, insurrection, or rebellion, murder, assault and battery with an intent to kill, manslaughter, mayhem, wounding by shooting or stabbing with an intent to commit murder, robbery, arson, burglary, rape, assault and battery with an intent to commit rape, and larceny, shall be punishable by the sentence of a general court-martial or military commission, when committed by persons who are in the military service of the United States, and subject to the articles of war; and the punishment for such offences shall never be less than those inflicted by the laws of the State, territory, or district in which they may have been committed.”
12 Stat. 736 .
The section is part of an act containing numerous provisions for the enrolment of the national forces, designating who shall constitute such forces; who shall be exempt from military service; when they shall be drafted for service; when substitutes may be allowed; how deserters and spies and persons resisting the draft shall be punished; and many other particulars, having for their object to secure a large force to carry on the then existing war, and to give efficiency to it when called into service. It was enacted not merely to insure order and discipline among the men composing those forces, but to protect citizens not in the military service from the violence of soldiers. It is a matter well known that the march even of an army not hostile is often accompanied with acts of violence and pillage by straggling parties of soldiers, which the most rigid discipline is hardly able to prevent. The offences mentioned are those of most common occurrence, and the swift and summary justice of a military court was deemed necessary to restrain their commission.
But the section does not make the jurisdiction of the military tribunals exclusive of that of the State courts. It does not declare that soldiers committing the offences named shall not be amenable to punishment by the State courts. It simply
Previous to its enactment, the offences designated were punishable by the State courts, and persons in the military service who committed them were delivered over to those courts for trial; and it contains no words indicating an intention on the part of Congress to take from them the jurisdiction in this respect which they had always exercised. With the known hostility of the American people to any interference by the military with the regular administration of justice in the civil courts, no such intention should be ascribed to Congress in the absence of clear and direct language to that effect.
We do not mean to intimate that it was not within the competency of Congress to confer exclusive jurisdiction upon military courts over offences committed by persons in the military service of the United States. As Congress is expressly authorized by the
In denying to the military tribunals exclusive jurisdiction, under the section in question, over the offences mentioned, when committed by persons in the military service of the United States and subject to the articles of war, we have reference to them when they were held in States occupying, as members of the Union, their normal and constitutional relations to the Federal government, in which the supremacy of that government was recognized, and the civil courts were open and in the undisturbed exercise of their jurisdiction. When the armies of the United States were in the territory of insurgent States, banded together in hostility to the national government and making war against it, in other words, when the armies of the United States were in the enemy‘s country, the military tribunals mentioned had, under the laws of war, and the authority conferred by the section named, exclusive jurisdiction to try and punish offences of every grade committed by persons in the military service. Officers and soldiers of the armies of the Union were not subject during the war to the laws of the enemy, or amenable to his tribunals for offences committed by them. They were answerable only to their own government, and only by its laws, as enforced by its armies, could they be punished.
It is well settled that a foreign army permitted to march through a friendly country, or to be stationed in it, by permission of its government or sovereign, is exempt from the civil and criminal jurisdiction of the place. The sovereign is understood, said this court in the celebrated case of The Exchange (7 Cranch, 139), to cede a portion of his territorial jurisdiction when he allows the troops of a foreign prince to pass through his dominions: “In such case, without any express declaration waiving jurisdiction over the army to which this right of passage has been granted, the sovereign who should attempt to exercise it would certainly be con-
If an army marching through a friendly country would thus be exempt from its civil and criminal jurisdiction, a fortiori would an army invading an enemy‘s country be exempt. The fact that war is waged between two countries negatives the possibility of jurisdiction being exercised by the tribunals of the one country over persons engaged in the military service of the other for offences committed while in such service. Aside from this want of jurisdiction, there would be something incongruous and absurd in permitting an officer or soldier of an invading army to be tried by his enemy, whose country he had invaded.
The fact that when the offence was committed, for which the defendant was indicted, the State of Tennessee was in the military occupation of the United States, with a military gov-
The doctrine of international law on the effect of military occupation of enemy‘s territory upon its former laws is well established. Though the late war was not between independent nations, but between different portions of the same nation, yet having taken the proportions of a territorial war, the insurgents having become formidable enough to be recognized as belligerents, the same doctrine must be held to apply. The right to govern the territory of the enemy during its military occupation is one of the incidents of war, being a consequence of its acquisition; and the character and form of the government to be established depend entirely upon the laws of the conquering State or the orders of its military commander. By such occupation the political relations between the people of the hostile country and their former government or sovereign are for the time severed; but the municipal laws — that is, the laws which regulate private rights, enforce contracts, punish crime, and regulate the transfer of property — remain in full force, so far as they affect the inhabitants of the country among themselves, unless suspended or superseded by the conqueror. And the tribunals by which the laws are enforced continue as before, unless thus changed. In other words, the municipal laws of the State, and their administration, remain in full force so far as the inhabitants of the country are concerned, unless changed by the occupying belligerent. Halleck, Int. Law, c. 33.
This doctrine does not affect, in any respect, the exclusive character of the jurisdiction of the military tribunals over the officers and soldiers of the army of the United States in Tennessee during the war; for, as already said, they were not subject to the laws nor amenable to the tribunals of the hostile country. The laws of the State for the punishment of crime were continued in force only for the protection and benefit of its own people. As respects them, the same acts which constituted
If these views be correct, the plea of the defendant of a former conviction for the same offence by a court-martial under the laws of the United States was not a proper plea in the case. Such a plea admits the jurisdiction of the criminal court to try the offence, if it were not for the former conviction. Its inapplicability, however, will not prevent our giving effect to the objection which the defendant, in this irregular way, attempted to raise, that the State court had no jurisdiction to try and punish him for the offence alleged. The judgment and conviction in the criminal court should have been set aside, and the indictment quashed for want of jurisdiction. Their effect was to defeat an act done, under the authority of the United States, by a tribunal of officers appointed under the law enacted for the government and regulation of the army in time of war, and whilst that army was in a hostile and conquered State. The judgment of that tribunal at the time it was rendered, as well as the person of the defendant, were beyond the control of the State of Tennessee. The authority of the United States was then sovereign and their jurisdiction exclusive. Nothing which has since occurred has diminished that authority or impaired the efficacy of that judgment.
In thus holding, we do not call in question the correctness of the general doctrine asserted by the Supreme Court of Tennessee, that the same act may, in some instances, be an offence against two governments, and that the transgressor may be held liable to punishment by both when the punishment is of such a character that it can be twice inflicted, or by either of the two governments if the punishment, from its nature, can be only once suffered. It may well be that the satisfaction which the transgressor makes for the violated law of the United States is no atonement for the violated law of Tennessee. But here there is no case presented for the application of the doctrine. The laws of Tennessee with regard to offences and their punishment, which were allowed to remain in force during its
This conclusion renders it unnecessary to consider the question presented as to the effect to be given to the order of the Circuit Court of the United States directing the discharge of the defendant. It is sufficient to observe that, by the act of Congress of Feb. 5, 1867, the several courts of the United States, and their judges, in their respective jurisdictions, have, in addition to the authority previously conferred, power to grant writs of habeas corpus in all cases upon petition of any person restrained of his liberty in violation of the Constitution or of any law of the United States; and if it appear, on the hearing had upon the return of the writ, that the petitioner is thus restrained, he must be forthwith discharged and set at liberty. Ex parte Yerger, 8 Wall. 101.
It follows, from the views expressed, that the judgment of the Supreme Court of Tennessee must be reversed, and the cause remanded with directions to discharge the defendant from custody by the sheriff of Knox County on the indictment and conviction for murder in the State court. But as the defendant was guilty of murder, as clearly appears not only by the evidence in the record in this case, but in the record of the proceedings of the court-martial, — a murder committed, too, under circumstances of great atrocity, — and as he was convicted of the crime by that court and sentenced to death, and it appears by his plea that said judgment was duly approved and still remains without any action having been taken upon
So ordered.
MR. JUSTICE CLIFFORD dissenting.
State Constitutions, as well as the
Borrowed, as that provision was, from the common law, it has everywhere been held to be subject to the same exceptions, limitations, and qualifications as were annexed to it by the expounders of the great repository of criminal jurisprudence. Vaux‘s Case, 4 Co. Rep. 44a.
Jeopardy, in the constitutional sense, arises when the accused is put to trial before a court of competent jurisdiction upon a sufficient indictment, and the prisoner has been legally convicted or acquitted by the verdict of a jury, as appears by the record thereof remaining in the court where the verdict was returned. 1 Bishop, Cr. Proced. (2d ed.), sect. 808.
Authorities may be referred to where it is held that the prisoner is put in legal jeopardy when the jury is duly impanelled and charged with his deliverance; but there are so many excep-
Even when the trial terminates before judgment without the fault of the accused, or where the form of the trial, verdict, and judgment are in all respects correct, there are exceptions to the rule that the accused shall not be twice put in jeopardy of life, as well established and as universally acknowledged as the rule itself, of which the following are examples: —
Legal jeopardy does not arise if the court had not jurisdiction of the offence. Commonwealth v. Peters, 12 Metc. (Mass.) 387; Commonwealth v. Goddard, 13 Mass. 455; The People v. Tyler, 7 Mich. 161.
Nor is such a party put in legal jeopardy if it appears that the first indictment was clearly insufficient and invalid. Commonwealth v. Bakeman, 105 Mass. 53; Gerard v. The People, 3 Ill. 362; The People v. Cook, 10 Mich. 164; Mount v. Commonwealth, 2 Duv. (Ky.) 93.
Nor if by any overruling necessity the jury are discharged without a verdict. United States v. Perez, 9 Wheat. 579; The People v. Goodwin, 18 Johns. (N. Y.) 187; Commonwealth v. Bowden, 9 Mass. 494; Commonwealth v. Purchase, 2 Pick. (Mass.) 521.
Nor is such a party put in legal jeopardy if the term of the court, as fixed by law, comes to an end before the trial is finished. The State v. Brooks, 3 Humph. (Tenn.) 70; State v. Mahala, 10 Yerg. (Tenn.) 532; State v. Battle, 7 Ala. 259; In the Matter of Robert Spier, 1 Dev. (N. C.) L. 491; Wright v. State, 5 Ind. 290; Cooley, Const. Lim. (4th ed.) 404.
Nor if the jury are discharged before verdict, with the consent of the accused, expressed or implied. State v. Slack, 6 Ala. 676.
Nor if the verdict is set aside on motion of the accused, or on writ of error sued out in his behalf. The State of Iowa v. Redman, 17 Iowa, 329.
Nor in case the judgment is arrested on his motion. The People v. Casborus, 13 Johns. (N. Y.) 351.
Sufficient appears to show that the prisoner, on the 2d of October, 1874, was in due form indicted of the crime of murder
Appended to that plea the prisoner also pleaded in bar of the indictment a former conviction for the same offence, in substance and effect as follows: That at the time he committed the alleged homicide he was an enlisted soldier in the Federal army, which was then and there in the occupation and control of the military district where the act of homicide was committed, and that he was then and there subject to the articles of war, and that by virtue thereof he was then and there, to wit, on the 24th of March, 1865, arraigned before a general court-martial upon charges and specifications setting forth the identical murder of the identical same person, which is the identical offence with which he is charged in the aforesaid indictment; that on the 9th of May following he was convicted of the crime of murder, and was sentenced by the court-martial to suffer the penalty of death by hanging; and he avers that the murder of which he was charged, and for which he was arraigned, tried, and convicted, is the same identical offence set forth in the pending indictment, and that the sentence is still standing as the judgment of said general court-martial, approved as required by law, without any other or further action thereon.
When the court met again, to wit, on the 6th of September in the same year, the district attorney of the county demurred to the plea in bar; and the court, after hearing the parties, sustained the demurrer, upon two grounds: first, because it did not convey a reasonable certainty of meaning; and, secondly, because it did not show a substantial cause of defence.
Pursuant to the leave granted, the amendment to the plea was duly filed in the case; and the district attorney demurred to it, and assigned the following causes for the demurrer: 1. Because neither the plea nor the amendment alleges that the judgment of the court-martial is still in force and effect. 2. Because it is not alleged in either that the prisoner at the time of trial was subject to the articles of war. 3. Because neither the plea nor the amendment thereto alleges that it was during or in time of war, insurrection, or rebellion, when the offence was committed with which the prisoner is charged. 4. Because the conviction by the court-martial, even if regular in form, is no bar to the pending indictment for the alleged offence committed against the laws of the State.
Hearing was had, and the court where the indictment was found sustained the demurrer for the first and fourth causes shown by the pleader. Preliminary questions of the kind having been determined adversely to the prisoner, the jury was duly impanelled for his trial; and they returned a verdict that he was guilty of murder in the first degree as charged in the indictment, without mitigating circumstances. Murder in the first degree is a capital offence in that State, and the court, on the first day of October following, sentenced the prisoner to be punished as required by law.
Exceptions were filed by the prisoner, and he appealed from
Enough appears to show that the Supreme Court of the State, inasmuch as the order of discharge had respect to a prisoner in custody under State process, was of the opinion that it was a mere nullity, and that the same court proceeded to determine the legal questions involved in the appeal.
No question under the petition for habeas corpus is presented in the pleadings, nor was any such question ruled or decided by the court of original jurisdiction. Two questions presented by the special demurrer were decided by the judge at the trial adversely to the prisoner, both of which were properly before the Supreme Court on appeal, and were, in effect, decided in the same way: 1. That the plea in bar was defective because it did not allege that the judgment of the court-martial was still in force and operative. 2. Because the conviction by the court-martial, even if the plea is regular in form, is not a bar to the pending indictment.
Three points were decided by the State Supreme Court: 1. That the order of discharge made by the Circuit Court was a nullity. 2. That the plea in bar, even if sufficient in form, was no bar of the indictment found in the State court. 3. That the plea in bar was defective for the two reasons assigned by the subordinate court; and for these reasons the Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the local court, and ordered that the sentence there pronounced be carried into execution.
Immediate application was made by the prisoner for a writ of error to remove the cause into this court, which was granted,
Questions of difficulty arise in the case, of which the following are the most important: —
- Conceding that the record of a former conviction is a good defence to a second indictment for the same offence, is that defence well pleaded in the case before the court?
- Suppose the sentence of a court-martial is such a judgment as will support such defence, when the second indictment is for the same offence and for a violation of the laws of the same sovereignty, will the record of a sentence by a court-martial of the United States support the plea of a former conviction, where the second indictment is found for an offence committed in violation of a State law?
- Even if a Circuit Court may grant the writ of habeas corpus to a prisoner in custody under State process, is the order discharging the prisoner from such custody a bar to the further prosecution of the indictment under which he was held prior to such order of discharge?
Argument to show that the defence of a former conviction must be pleaded is quite unnecessary, as the rule at the present day is universally acknowledged; nor is it necessary to enter into much discussion to prove that it will not avail as a defence unless it is well pleaded, as that follows from the antecedent proposition, the rule being that the evidence is not admissible under the general issue. The People v. Benjamin, 2 Park. (N. Y.) Cr. 201; 1 Bennett, Lead. Cr. Cas. (2d ed.) 541.
Second convictions, or even second trials, after legal conviction or acquittal, are not allowed in the administration of criminal justice; and the test by which to decide whether the accused has been once legally convicted or acquitted, says Spencer, C. J., is familiar to every lawyer, and he proceeds to say that it can only be by plea of autrefois convict or autrefois acquit, both of which are grounded upon the universal maxim of the common law, that no man is to be brought into jeopardy of his life more than once for the same offence, from which it follows as a consequence that if the accused has been once fairly convicted or found not guilty by the verdict of a jury, he may plead such conviction or acquittal in bar of any subse-
Jurisdiction is essential to the validity of every conviction or acquittal, as the rule is universal that a former conviction or acquittal in a court having no jurisdiction of the offence is a mere nullity, and constitutes no bar to a second prosecution. Rex v. Bowman, 6 Car. & P. 101; State v. Elden, 41 Me. 165; Commonwealth v. Roby, 12 Pick. (Mass.) 496.
Pleas of the kind must allege that the former trial was in a court having jurisdiction of the case, and that the person and the offence are the same, and must set forth the former record, else the plea will be bad. King v. Wildey, 1 Mau. & Sel. 183; 1 Burn, Justice (30th ed.), 352; 2 Russell (4th ed.), 60; Rex v. Edwards, Russ. & R. 224.
Standard authorities which show that the plea of a former conviction or acquittal must set forth the substance of the record are very numerous and decisive. Where the plea is autrefois convict, it must appear that the prisoner received sentence as required by law; or if the plea be autrefois acquit, it must appear that the court gave the order that he go without day. Roscoe, Cr. Evid. (8th ed.) 199.
Defences of the kind are often set up; and in order to avoid false pretences, the established rule is, that the accused is required not only to show the nature of the former prosecution and the conviction or acquittal with certainty in his plea, but also to show the record or its substance to the court, by producing or vouching it at the time he pleads, for otherwise it would be in his power to delay the trial when he pleased by pleading a former conviction or acquittal in another jurisdiction; and in order to prevent such false pretences in pleading, the requirement is, that the plea shall show the record, or vouch it if it be in the same court in the first instance, and that he is not allowed to wait until nul tiel record is pleaded by the prosecutor. 2 Stark. Cr. Pl. 350.
Exactly the same form of such a plea is given by Train & Heard in their work entitled “Precedents of Indictments;” and their directions to the pleader are the same, that is, that the pleader shall set forth the former judgment and conviction verbatim, and then proceed to allege as directed in the other treatise, “as by the record thereof in the said court remaining more fully and at large appears, which said judgment and conviction still remain in full force and effect, and not in the least reversed or made void.” Train & Heard, Prec. Indict. 486.
Forms for pleas in bar in such cases are also given by Mr. Archbold in his standard work upon Pleading in Criminal Cases. Like the forms previously noticed, he also directs that the substance of the proceedings in the former suit be fully set forth, and that the pleader proceed to add, “as by the record of the said conviction more fully and at large appears, which said judgment and conviction still remain in full force and effect, and not in the least reversed or made void.” Archb. Plead. in Cr. Cas. (18th ed.) 141.
Averments of a like character are required by the form of such a plea given by Mr. Wharton in his work entitled “Precedents of Indictments.” He gives the substance of the proceedings in the suit which led to the former conviction, and adds, “as by the record thereof more fully and at large appears, which said judgment and conviction still remain in full force and effect, and not in the least reversed or made void.” 2 Whart. Prec. Indict. & Pleas (3d ed.), sect. 1154.
Courts and lawyers in Massachusetts, having occasion to study the forms of pleading in criminal cases, were for more
Treatises of a standard character everywhere contain such a requirement, of which the very latest is that by Mr. F. F. Heard, whose extensive and accurate learning upon the subject of pleading in criminal cases entitles his opinion to great weight. His directions to the pleader are as follows: Set forth the former judgment and conviction verbatim, and proceed to aver, as by the record thereof in the said court more fully and at large appears, which said judgment and conviction still remain in full force and effect, and not in the least reversed or made void. Mass. Cr. Law, 837.
Confirmed as that writer is by Starkie and Archbold, and by Lord Ellenborough in King v. Wildey (1 Mau. & Sel. 188), his view ought to be regarded as conclusive; and the same author states that the defence of a former conviction or a former acquittal must be pleaded, and that it is not admissible under the general issue, which is decisive of the whole case. p. 172.
Matters of a special character suggested in defence of a criminal prosecution which are not well pleaded, if duly demurred to, are to be treated as if they had no existence; and if that be so, and it be well settled law that the defence of autrefois convict is not admissible in evidence under the general issue, then it follows that the whole foundation of the judgment of the court in this case is swept away. Since the time of Lord Coke, it has been settled law that such a plea is bad, unless it contains the averment that the prior judgment is in full force and unreversed, and the transcript shows that the prosecutor demurred to the plea on account of that defect, and that the State court sustained the demurrer and adjudged
Convictions and judgments may be reversed in criminal as well as in civil cases; and it is settled law that a second trial, where the former conviction or judgment is reversed, is not a violation of the constitutional provision which declares that no person shall be subject to be twice put in jeopardy for the same offence. The People v. Rulloff, 5 Park. (N. Y.) Cr. 82; 1 Colby, Cr. Law, 280; Cobia v. The State, 16 Ala. 781; 2 Story, Const. (3d ed.) 1787.
Exceptions of the kind and many others existing to the rule that a former conviction for the same offence is a bar to a pending indictment, show the necessity that the plea should set forth the substance of the proceedings in the former suit, and contain sufficient averments to show that the judgment is unreversed and in full force and effect. Where the judgment in the former suit was in another jurisdiction, the form given for the plea of autrefois convict, as given in all the standard writers on the subject, contains the formal averment that the judgment is unreversed and in full force.
Less strictness is required in pleading autrefois acquit, and in cases where the former trial and sentence were in the same court where the second indictment is pending. Text-writers in some cases seem to require the same averment as when the plea of a former conviction is based upon the record existing in another jurisdiction, but the better opinion is that the plea setting up a former conviction or acquittal in the same court is good if the pleader makes a profert of the record, as follows: as appears by the record of the proceedings now here remaining in court. Rex v. Sheen, 2 Car. & P. 634.
Even in these cases the pleader must make profert of the record of the former conviction, or the plea will be bad, as appears by each one of the following authorities: Regina v. Bird, T. & M. 445, note. In that case, the form of the plea is given in the note, and the words of the averment are, “as by the record of the said proceedings now here appears.” Same v. Same, 5 Cox C. C. 14; Same v. Same, 2 Eng. L. & Eq. 448.
Confirmation of that proposition is found in several cases; but it is equally well settled, that if the plea does not state the substance of the former proceedings, and does not make profert of the former record, the plea is bad, and will be held insufficient on demurrer. The King v. Vandercomb, 2 Leach, 714.
There can be no plea of autrefois acquit, says Jervis, C. J., where there is no judgment in the former trial on record. Regina v. Reid, Ackroyd, & Rothwell, 1 Eng. L. & Eq. 595.
Speaking of the plea of autrefois convict, Chitty says, it is of a mixed nature, and consists partly of matter of record and partly of matter of fact, and he adds, with emphasis, that it is settled to be absolutely requisite to set forth in the plea the record of the former acquittal; and, if so, it is equally requisite that it should be averred that the judgment is unreversed and in full force, as every lawyer of experience in criminal law knows, that, if the verdict was set aside or the judgment arrested at the request of the person convicted, the conviction becomes a nullity. 1 Chitty, Cr. L. 463; Regina v. Drury, 3 Car. & Kir. 193; Waller v. The State, 40 Ala. 325.
For these reasons, I am of opinion that the plea in bar to the indictment filed by the prisoner was bad, and that the decision of the State court sustaining the demurrer to it was correct. Having come to that conclusion, it is not necessary to examine the other objection to the plea in bar.
Suppose, for the sake of argument, that the plea in bar in this case is sufficient in form, still the question arises, whether the sentence of a court-martial of the United States is such a judgment as will sustain the plea of autrefois convict in a case where the pending indictment is found by the grand jury of a State for an offence defined by the laws of a State.
When the
It has been frequently decided by this court, says Mr. Justice Grier, that the powers which relate merely to municipal regulations, or what may properly be called internal police, are not surrendered by the States or restrained by the
All that the Federal authority can do in such a case is to see that the States do not, under cover of this power, invade the sphere of Federal sovereignty, and obstruct or impede the exercise of any authority which the
By the law of the State, murder is defined as follows: If any person of sound memory and discretion unlawfully kill any reasonable creature in being and under the peace of the State, with malice aforethought, either express or implied, such person shall be guilty of murder. 3 State Stat. 43.
Congress has never defined such an offence, when committed within the acknowledged jurisdiction of the State, under the circumstances disclosed in the record, nor is there any pretence for the suggestion, that there is any conflict between the authorities of the State and the judicial authorities of the United States. Sentence without punishment is all that is pretended in this case; and the prisoner, through his counsel, admits that the failure of the United States to carry the sentence into effect must be taken as an abandonment by the United States to execute the plaintiff for the offence of which he was convicted by the court-martial.
Appeal from the sentence of the judge who presided at the trial to the State Supreme Court appears to have been taken chiefly, if not entirely, for the purpose of reviewing the ruling of the judge that the plea in bar filed by the prisoner was bad. Evidence to show that any other ruling of the judge was seriously controverted in the appellate tribunal is not found in the transcript, nor has any such attempt been made in argument here by the counsel of the prisoner. Instead of that, the main stress of the argument has been to show that the order of the Circuit Court discharging the prisoner under the petition for habeas corpus is final and conclusive, and to show that no person can lawfully be twice put in jeopardy of life, without much regard to the question whether the plea in bar is good or bad.
Unless the unexecuted sentence of the court-martial is such
No sentence of a court-martial inflicting the punishment of death shall be carried into execution until it shall have been confirmed by the President, except in the enumerated cases of persons, including murderers, convicted in time of war; but the same article provides that in such excepted cases the sentence of death may be carried into execution, upon confirmation by the commanding general in the field, or the commander of the department, as the case may be.
Approved and confirmed, as the sentence was, by the commander of the department, and not by the President, it may well be contended that it became abandoned when peace came. Peace came in the State where these proceedings took place on the 2d of April, 1866, as expressly decided by this court (The Protector, 12 Wall. 700); and the plea in bar in this case was not filed until May 31, 1875, nine years after the war of the rebellion terminated in that State.
Unapproved as the sentence of the court-martial was by the President, it is clear that it had become inoperative before the plea in bar was filed, and consequently was not at that time such a judgment as would support the plea of autrefois convict, — the rule being, by all the well-considered authorities, that the judgment, in order that it may be sufficient to support such a plea, must be in full force and effect, and not in the least reversed or made void. The King v. Wildey, 1 Man. & Sel. 183; Bishop, Cr. Proced. (2d ed.), sect. 808.
Opposed to this is the suggestion that the prisoner served in
Even if a circuit court may grant the writ of habeas corpus to a prisoner convicted of murder in a State tribunal, and in custody on appeal under process from the highest court of a State, it by no means follows that the order of such a judge discharging such a prisoner from custody under a State law is a bar to the further prosecution of the indictment under which he was held prior to such order of discharge.
Prior to the passage of the
Apply that rule to the case, and it is clear to a demonstration that the Circuit Court had no jurisdiction to grant the writ of habeas corpus, under which the prisoner was discharged. Both parties concede that proposition; but the prisoner, through his counsel, insists that the jurisdiction to issue the writ and order the discharge was plainly conferred by the subsequent act of Congress.
Justices and judges of the courts of the United States have power, in addition to the authority previously conferred, to grant writs of habeas corpus in all cases where any person may be restrained of his or her liberty in violation of the
Writs of habeas corpus may be granted to deliver the applicant from imprisonment, even when confined under State process, if he is so confined in violation of the
Grant that, and it follows that the order of the Circuit Court discharging the prisoner from custody under the State process was a nullity, at least for two reasons: 1. Because the plea of autrefois convict was bad; and if bad, then it did not appear in contemplation of law that he was a second time put in jeopardy by the pending indictment. 2. Because it clearly appears that the sentence of the court-martial was not such a judgment as will support the plea of autrefois convict; and if not, then it did not appear that the prisoner was restrained of his liberty in violation of the
Jurisdiction to try and punish offenders against the authority of the United States is conferred upon the Circuit and District Courts, but those courts have no jurisdiction of offences committed against the authority of a State.
Criminal homicide, committed in a State, is an offence against the authority of the State, unless it was committed in a place within the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States. Offences of the kind, if committed by a person in the military service of the United States, are breaches of military discipline, and the offender may be tried and sentenced by a court-martial; but the sentence, if it awards the punishment of death, cannot be carried into execution until it is approved and confirmed by the President, except in cases of persons convicted in time of war, as before explained. Cases arise, undoubtedly, where a conqueror, having displaced the courts of the conquered country, may establish special tribunals in their place; but it is quite sufficient to say, in response to that suggestion, if made, that no such question is involved in the case before the court, as fully appears from the plea in bar filed by the prisoner, — the only question being whether the sentence of the court-martial is such a judgment as, if well pleaded, will support the plea of autrefois convict in bar of an indictment for murder committed in violation of a State law.
Military conquerors, in time of war, may doubtless displace the courts of the conquered country, and may establish civil tribunals in their place for administering justice; and where
But that concession only shows that the military occupant holding the possession of a State has the belligerent power to reorganize the local government as the means of enforcing the sovereignty of the conqueror; but the mere occupancy of the territory by his forces does not necessarily displace the local tribunals of justice, as the conqueror, if he sees fit, may suffer them to remain.
Courts of justice for the trial of criminal offences were not established by the military conqueror of the State, nor was the prisoner tried before any such tribunal. Nothing of the kind is set up in the pleas in bar, nor is any thing of the kind pretended in argument. Instead of that, the record shows that the tribunal was a general court-martial, convened under the rules and regulations for the government of the army, which were as applicable at the time in the loyal as in the rebellious States.
Contradicted as such a theory is by every line of the record, it is clear that it has no proper foundation, either in truth, law, or justice.
Without more, the two objections to the plea of autrefois convict — to wit, that it is bad in form, and that the sentence of the court-martial, at the time it was pleaded, was not such a judgment as would support such a plea — are amply sufficient to show that the judgment of the State court should be affirmed; but I am also of the opinion that the order of the Circuit Court discharging the prisoner from imprisonment is a nullity.
Discussion to show that wilful murder is an offence against the authority of the State is unnecessary, as that proposition is fully established by the law of the State. 3 State Stat. 43. Grant that, and still it is suggested that it is also a military offence, which may be tried and punished by court-martial, which is admitted without hesitation; but it is not admitted that an unexecuted sentence of such a court-martial is a bar to a subsequent prosecution by the State for the murder of one of her citizens. The State v. Rankin, 4 Cold. (Tenn.) 145.
Every citizen of the United States is also a citizen of a State or Territory. He may, says the same learned judge, be said to owe allegiance to two sovereigns, and may be liable to punishment for an infraction of the laws of either, and the same act may be an offence or transgression of the laws of both. Thus, an assault on the marshal, and hindering him in the execution of legal process, is a high offence against the United States, for which the perpetrator is liable to punishment; and the same act may also be a gross breach of the peace of the State, if it results in a riot, assault, or a murder, and may subject the same person to a punishment under the State laws for a misdemeanor or felony. That either or both governments may punish such offender cannot be doubted, yet it cannot be truly averred that the offender has been twice punished for the same offence, but only that by one act he has committed two offences, for each of which he is punishable; nor could he plead one punishment in bar to an indictment by the other, for the reason that the act committed was an offence against the authority of each. Moore v. Illinois, 14 How. 13. Two more cases decided by this court are to the same effect, and are supported by substantially the same course of reasoning. Fox v. State of Ohio, 5 How. 410; United States v. Marigold, 9 id. 560.
In the first case, the indictment was for “passing and uttering a certain piece of false, base, and counterfeit coin, forged and counterfeited to the likeness and similitude of the good and legal silver coin” called a dollar, passing currently in the State. By the report of the case it appears that the defendant, having been convicted, removed the cause here, and assigned for error that the State court had no jurisdiction of the offence as defined in the State law. But this court held that the State law was valid, that offenders committing offences
When examined with care, it will also be found that the second case decides the same point, — that the same act may constitute an offence against both the State and the Federal governments, and may draw to its commission the penalties, denounced by either as appropriate to its character in reference to each.
Decided support to that conclusion is also derived from certain eminent text-writers, as, for example, Mr. Cooley says, “The States may constitutionally provide for punishing the counterfeiting of coin and the passing of counterfeit money, since these acts are offences against the State, notwithstanding they may also be offences against the nation.” Cooley, Const. Lim. (4th ed.) 25.
Corresponding views are expressed by Mr. Wharton, as follows: Nor should it be forgotten that an offence may have in such cases two aspects, so that one sovereign may punish it in the first aspect, and the other in the second, which is a striking illustration of the case before the court. Reference is made by the author to some of the difficulties which arise in such a case; and he suggests as the means of their solution that “supplementary jurisdiction is in such cases to be maintained, but that cumulative punishment is to be avoided by the interposition of executive clemency.” Wharton, Cr. Law (7th ed.), 435; Whiting, War Powers (43d ed.), 188.
Eminent judicial support to that view is also found in the Circuit Court, as exhibited in the opinion of Mr. Chief Justice Taney. United States v. Amy. Though unreported in the volume of his decisions, it will be found published in a note to the case of Negro Ann Hammon v. The State, 14 Md. 135. Congress enacted that, if any person shall steal a letter from the mail, the offender shall, upon conviction, be imprisoned not less than two nor more than ten years.
These considerations, it would seem, are sufficient to show that there is no error in the record; but still it is deemed proper to add, that I am of the opinion that the Circuit Court had no jurisdiction to grant the writ of habeas corpus, and that the order discharging the prisoner is without legal effect. Nothing can be more certain in legal decision than the proposition that no power to grant such a writ in such a case is conferred by the fourteenth section of the
Extensive as the differences of opinion are in this case, all will agree, I suppose, that the decision of the judge that he had jurisdiction to grant the writ of habeas corpus in such a case is not conclusive; and if not, then I submit to every person interested in the question, that it is clearly shown that the jurisdiction has not been conferred by an act of Congress. Ex parte Milburn, 9 Pet. 704; Ridgway‘s Case, 2 Ashm. (Pa.) 247.
Persuasive and convincing confirmation of the dual character of the jurisdiction in such cases is also derived from the fact that the military authorities of the United States hold that the conviction and sentence of such an offender by the proper judicial tribunal of the State is no bar to the subsequent proceedings of a court-martial in a case where the criminal act for
Officers and soldiers of the army who do acts criminal both by the military and the municipal law, are, under certain conditions and limitations, subject to be tried by the civil authorities in preference to the military; but the conviction or acquittal of the party by the civil authorities will not discharge the officer or soldier from responsibility for the military offence involved in the same facts. Steiner‘s Case, 6 id. 413.
Martial or military law, says Tytler, does not in any respect either supersede or interfere with the civil and municipal laws of the realm. Hence it appears that soldiers are, equally with all other classes of citizens, bound to the same strict observance of the laws of the country and the fulfilment of all their social duties, and are alike amenable to the ordinary civil and criminal courts of the country for all offences against those laws and breach of those duties. P. 153.
A former acquittal or conviction of an act by a civil court, says Benêt, is not a good plea in bar before a court-martial on charges and specifications covering the same. Benêt, Courts-Martial, 115.
“Assault and battery and homicide,” says Mr. Cushing, “are violations of the municipal laws of the place where committed, to be tried and punished by the proper tribunal of the State or Territory whose peace and laws are broken and offended.” But the military authorities maintain that the same acts being done by an officer or soldier of the army, over and above the breach of the local law, is also a violation of the rules and articles for the government of the army, and that in such a case the offender is punishable both as a citizen subject to the municipal law of the place, and as an officer or soldier subject to the rules and regulations enacted by Congress for the government of the army. Howe‘s Case, 6 Op. Att‘y-Gen. 511; Benêt, Courts-Martial, 117; State v. Yancey, 1 Law Repos. (N. C.) 133; State v. Woodfin, 5 Ired. (N. C.) L. 199.
Viewed in the light of these suggestions, I am of the opinion that there is no error in the record, and that the judgment of the Supreme Court of the State should be affirmed.