William Henry Moody

“ But no court may properly release a prisoner under conviction and sentence of another court, unless for want of jurisdiction of the cause or person, or for some other matter rendering its proceedings void. Where a court has jurisdiction, mere errors which have been committed in the course of the proceedings cannot be corrected upon a writ of habeas corpus, which may not, in this manner, usurp the functions of a writ of error. ”

“ The principal question argued before us by counsel is, whether the eight members of the grand jury, whose qualifications were questioned, were naturalized by courts having the authority to naturalize aliens. But we find no occasion to decide or consider this question. If the plaintiff in error desired the judgment of this court upon it, he should have brought a writ of error to the judgment of the supreme court of the territory which passed upon it in affirming the judgment of conviction in the trial court. ”

“ Ct. Rep. 389; Riggins v. United States, supra; Felts v. Murphy, 201, U.S. 123, 50 L. ed. 689, 26 Sup. Ct. Rep. 366; Valentina v. Mercer, 201 U.S. 131, 50 L. ed. 693, 26 Sup. Ct. Rep. 368.
These well-settled principles are decisive of the case before us. ”