124 F. 831 | W.D.N.Y. | 1903
This is a motion to quash an indictment found by the grand jury accusing the defendant of a violation of section ii of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 (Act May 6, 1882, c. 126, 22 Stat. 61 [U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 1307]), as amended in 1884 (Act July 5, 1884, c. 220, 23 Stat. 117 [U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 1310]). That section prohibits a person from knowingly bringing into, or causing to be brought into, the United States by land any Chinese person not lawfully entitled to enter the United States; and from aiding or abetting such unlawful entry. It was admitted on argument on behalf of the government that the sole evidence before the grand jury tending to prove that the Chinese persons alleged to have been brought into the United States by the defendant were not entitled to enter or remain in the United States was a judgment and decree of deportation rendered by the United States commissioner before whom the proceedings were instituted. The competency and relevancy of this evidence upon which the indictment was found, and its competency and relevancy upon the trial of the accused to establish
There are' numerous exceptions to the general rule that a judgment binds only parties and privies. The principle enunciated in Railroad Equipment Co. v. Blair, supra, holds that the exceptions to the general rule are as firmly established as the rule itself. The language of the court in that case clearly states the exception to the general rule, and I think the exception applies to the question under consideration. The language of the court follows:
“A general and well-settled rule that a judgment binds only parties and privies is unquestioned. But there is an exception to this rule, as firmly settled as the rule itself, and that is that a former judgment establishing rights and relations between the parties to that judgment, while it is never admissible to defeat or devest any right existing in a person not a party or privy thereto, is admissible against such person for the purpose of proving that the plaintiff in the former judgment sustained to the defendant therein the relation established thereby.”
It would seem that the constitutional provision securing to the defendant the right to be confronted with the witnesses against him does not apply where the facts in controversy are such as have been
I conclude that the evidence considered by the grand jury, and to which exception is now taken, was properly considered, and was sufficient upon which to base the indictment.
Motion denied.