Horace Gray

“ To order a writ of prohibition to issue in the present case would be to declare that an officer of the navy who, while serving by appointment of the president as chief of a bureau in the navy department, makes contracts or payments, in violation of law, in disregard of the interests of the government, and to promote the interests of contractors, cannot lawfully be tried by a court-martial composed of naval officers, and by them convicted of scandalous conduct tending to the destruction of good morals, and to the dishonor of the naval service. ”

“ Under the sixty-first of the articles of war for the government of the army of the United States, which, omitting the words 'scandalous or infamous,' provides that 'any officer who is convicted of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman shall be dismissed from the service,' it is observed in the most recent treatise on military law, and supported by copious references to precedents, 'while the cat charged will more usually have been committed in a military capacity, or have grown out of some military status or relation, it is by no means essential that this should have been its history. ”

“ In England, from long before the Declaration of Independence, writs of prohibition have usually issued from the courts of common law, and do not appear to have issued from a court of chancery in any case in which a court of law might issue them, except during vacation, when the courts of common law were not open. ”