Samuel Blatchford

“ The contention of the plaintiff in error would allow a writ of error from this court in every criminal case in a territory where the prosecution is based on a statute of the United States; and, indeed, might go still further, for the authority of every court sitting in a territory is founded on a statute of the United States. From the fact that a given criminal case involves the construction of a statute of the United States, it does not follow that the validity of 'an authority exercised under the United States' is drawn in question. ”

“ As to the deprivation of liberty, whether as a punishment for crime or otherwise, it is settled by a long course of decisions, cited and commented on in Kurtz v. Moffitt, ubi supra, that no test of money value can be applied to it, to confer jurisdiction. We conclude, therefore, that we have no jurisdiction of these writs of error, and that they must be dismissed for that reason. ”