In Re Mayfield
- Reporters:
- , , ,
- Before:
- Beown
delivered the opinion of t.he court.
Petitioner was indicted for a violation of the third section of the act of March 3, 1887, 24 Stat. 635, c. 397,entitled “An act to amend an act entitled c An act to amend section fifty-three hundred and fifty-two of the Revised Statutes of the United States, in reference to bigamy, and for other purposes,’ approved March twenty-second, eighteen hundred and eighty-two.” The section reads as follows: “ That whoever commits adultery shall be punished b}r imprisonment in the penitentiary not exceeding three years; and when the act is committed between a married woman and a man who is unmarried, both paltóes to such act shall be deemed guilty of adultery; and when such act is committed between a married man and a woman:who is unmarried, the man shall be deemed guilty of adultery.” Rev. Stat. sec. 5352, to which this is an amendment, provided for the punishment of bigamy when committed “in a Territory, or other place over which the United States have ‘exclusive jurisdiction.” But the applicability of the act of March, 1887, to this case is apparent from sec. 2145, title 28, chapter 4, entitled “ Government of Indian country,” which reads as follows:
“
Except as to crimes the punishment of
It was held by this court in United States v. Rogers, 4 How. 567, that the Indian tribes residing within the territorial limits of the United States are subject to their authority, and where the country occupied by them is not within the limits of any one of the States, Congress may, by law, punish any offence committed .there, no matter whether the offender be a white man- or an Indian. The doctrine of this case was subsequently reaffirmed in the cases of the Cherokee Tobacco, 11 Wall. 616; United States v. Kagama, 118 U. S. 375, and Ex parte. Crow Dog, 109 U. S. 556.
Did the case rest here there could be no doubt of .the propriety of this conviction, but the very next section, 2146, as amended by the act of February 18, 1875,18 Stat. 316, 318, c. 80, contains an important qualification to the general language of section 2145; as follows: “ The preceding section shall not be construed to extend to [crimes committed by one Indian against the person or property of another Indian, nor to] any Indian committing any offence in the Indian country who has been punished by the local law of the tribe, or to any case’ where, by treaty stipulations, the exclusive jurisdiction over such offences is or may be secured to the Indian tribes respectively.” The crime charged in this case was evidently ‘not one committed by one Indian against the person or property of another Indian, nor is there any evidence that Mayfield had been punished by the local law of the tribe; indeed, it is admitted that there is no Indian law punishing the crime of adultery. It .only remains to consider whether, by treaty stipulation, exclusive ‘jurisdiction over the offence has been secured to the Indian tribes.
On July 19, 1866, a treaty was concluded between the United States and the Cherokee Nation, 14 Stat. 799, the seventh and the thirteenth.articles of which are pertinent to thiá case. The seventh article reads as follows: “ The United
The thirteenth article of the same treaty provides as follows : “ The Cherokees also agree that a court or courts may be established by the United States in said Territory, with such jurisdiction and organized in such manner as may be prescribed by law:
Provided,
That- the judicial tribunals of the nation shall be allowed to retain exclusive jurisdiction in all civil and criminal cases arising within their country in which members of the nation, by nativity or adoption, shall be the only parties, or where the cause of action shall arise in the Cherokee Nation, except as otherwise provided in this treaty.” Though the stipulation does not show that Mayfield was a native of the Cherokee Nation, it does show that he was one-fourth Indian by blood, and a citizen of the Cherokee
Now if the establishment of any court at all were necessary to give validity to the proviso of the thirteenth article, upon which we express no opinion, we think the” establishment of any court sitting in such territory under the direct authority of the United States, and having a general jurisdiction, is adequate for that purpose, Indeed, the object of the proviso seems to be, not so much the establishment of a new jurisdiction dependent upon the happening,of a certain event, as a recognition of a jurisdiction already existing. As the seventh article of the treaty limited the power of the court proposed to be created, and of the district courts already existing, to cases
There is, however, another act not alluded to-in the opinion of the District Court, passed after the offence is alleged to have been committed, but .before the indictment was filed, which contains a further recognition of the native courts, and is pertinent in this connection. We refer to the act of May 2, 1890, 26 Stat. 81, c. 182, entitled “An act to provide a temporary government for the Territory of Oklahoma, to enlarge the jurisdiction of the United States Court in the Indian Territory, and for other purposes.” The thirtieth section of this act contains the following proviso: “That the judicial tribu-’ nals of the Indian nations shall retain exclusive jurisdiction in’ all civil and criminal cases arising in the country in which members of the nation by nativity or by adoption shall be the only parties.” The thirty-first section of said act also contains the following as its concluding paragraph: “ The Constitution of the United States and all general laws of the United States which prohibit crimes and misdemeanors in any place within the sole and exclusive jurisdiction of the United States, except in the District of Columbia, and all laws relating to national banking associations, shall have the same forcé and effect iff the Indian Territory as elsewhere in the United States; but nothing in this act shall be so construed as to deprive, any of the courts of the civilized nations of exclusive jurisdiction over all cases arising wherein members of said nations, whether by treaty, blood or adoption, are the sole parties, nor so as to interfere with the right and power of said civilized nations, to punish said members for violation of the statutes and laws’ enacted by their national councils where such laws are not contrary to the treaties and laws of the United States.”
The policy of Congress has evidently been to vest in the inhabitants of the Indian country such power of self-government as was thought to be’ consistent with the safety of the white population with which they may have come in contact, and to encourage them‘as far as possible in raising themselves
It is needless ‘to say that’ the fact, if it be a fact, that the laws of the Oherokees make no provision for the punishment •of the crime of adultery, would not extend to the courts of. the United States a power to punish this crime that did not otherwise exist. As Mayfield was a member of the Cherokee Nation by adoption, if not by nativity, and was the sole party to these proceedings, we think it is clear that under the treaties and acts of Congress he is amenable only to the. courts of the nation, and that his petition should be granted.
The point is taken in the brief submitted by the Attorney General that the Supreme Court has no powbr to consider this question upon an application for a writ of habeas corpus. This court has held, however, in a multitude of cases, that it had power to inquire with regard to the jurisdiction of the inferior court, either in respect to the subject matter or to the person, even if such inquiry involved an examination of- facts outside of, but not inconsistent with, the record. Ex parte Yerger, 8 Wall. 85; Ex parte Virginia, 100 U. S. 339; Ex parte Carll, 106 U. S. 521; Ex parte Yarbrough, 110 U. S. 651; Ex parte Bigelow, 113 U. S. 328; Re Nielsen, 131 U. S. 176; Re Savin, 131 U. S. 267. In Re Cuddy, 131 U. S. 280, it was. held directly, that where the petitioner had been committed for a contempt, he was at liberty, upon application for a writ of habeas corpus, to allege and prove facts not contradictory to-the record, which went to show that the court was without jurisdiction.
Upon the facts of this case, which are fully discussed in the-briefs of counsel, the petitioner is entitled to his discharge. His petition for a writ of habeas corpus is therefore
Granted.