Beckley Court

“ Considering the final decree entered in the consolidated action, and the decree as subsequently entered by the trial court upon the mandate of the supreme court of Tennessee, it was decided that the Tennessee court 'did not adjudicate nor attempt to determine . . . [the] right [of Beckwith] to the moneys received by him for advertisements inserted in the paper by the receiver after his appointment.' The court then said, evidently assuming that the last decree embodied the direction for sales. ”

“ In our opinion the right to be exempt from prosecution for an infamous crime, except upon a presentment by a grand jury, is of the same nature as the right to a trial by a petit jury of the number fixed by the common law. If the state have the power to abolish the grand jury and the consequent proceeding by indictment, the same course of reasoning which establishes that right will and does establish the right to alter the number of the petit jury from that provided by the common law. ”

“ Every one of the judges answered in the negative. The opinion of Judge Cabell was the ablest, and stated most clearly the real issue raised by the Virginia court. Neither State nor National Government is dependent one upon the other, he said; neither can act "compulsively" upon the other. Controversies might arise between State and National Governments, "yet the constitution has provided no umpire, has erected no tribunal by which they shall be settled." Therefore, the National court could not oblige the State court to "enter a judgment not its own." ”

“ Florida, 468 U.S. 447, 455, 104 S.Ct. 3154, 3159, 82 L.Ed.2d 340 (1984) , " [t] he absence of a lesser included offense instruction increases the risk that the jury will convict . . . simply to avoid setting the defendant free. . . . The goal of the Beck rule, in other words, is to eliminate the distortion of the factfinding process that is created when the jury is forced into an all-or-nothing choice between capital murder and innocence." ”

“ No one would pretend that an attempt to control the deliberation of the bench, by the apprehension of violence, and subject the judges to the power of those who are, or ought to be, subordinate to them, is compatible with professional duty, or the judicial independence so indispensable to the administration of justice. And an enormity of the sort, practiced but on a single judge, would be an offence as much against the court, which is bound to protect all its members, as if it had been repeated on the person of each of them, because the consequences to suitors and the public would be the same ”

“ Just as it is not violative of due process for a State to take private property for public use and leave to a later stage the constitutional vindication of the right to compensation, it does not seem to me that it would be violative of due process to allow the judge-grand juror of Michigan to find criminal contempt for conduct in his proceedings without the familiar elements of an open trial, provided that the State furnishes the accused a public tribunal before which he has full opportunity to be quit of the finding. ”

“ All they're interested in is the law!"
"I've known those fellows to do queer things sometimes," answered the learned judge. "And the Beekmans are pretty powerful people."
"Well, so are the McGurks!" warned O'Brien.
"Now, Miss Beekman," said Judge Babson most genially the next morning, after that lady had taken her seat in the witness chair and the jury had answered to their names, "I hope you feel differently to-day about giving your testimony. Don't you think that after all it would be more fitting if you answered the question?"
Miss Althea firmly compressed her lips. ”

“ Where part of a state is thickly settled, and another part has but few inhabitants, it may be desirable to have different systems of judicature for the two portions,-trial by jury in one, for example, and not in the other. Large cities may require a multiplication of courts and a peculiar arrangement of jurisdictions. It would be an unfortunate restriction of the powers of the state government if it could not, in its discretion, provide for these various exigencies. ”

“ It is said that familiar principles would be outraged if Bethlehem were denied recovery on these contracts. But is there any principle which is more familiar or more firmly embedded in the history of Anglo-American law than the basic doctrine that the courts will not permit themselves to be used as instruments of inequity and injustice? Does any principle in our law have more universal application than the doctrine that courts will not enforce transactions in which the relative positions of the parties are such that one has unconscionably taken advantage of the necessities of the other? ”

“ In a suit to which the state is neither formally nor really a party, its officers, although acting by its order and for its benefit, may be restrained by injunction, when the remedy at law is inadequate, from doing positive acts, for which they are personally and individually liable, taking or injuring the plaintiff's property, contrary to a plain official duty requiring no exercise of discretion, and in violation of the constitution or laws of the United States. ”

“ Lord Chief Justice DE GREY, on that occasion said, 'When the House of Commons adjudged any thing to be a contempt, or a breach of privilege, their adjudication is a conviction, and their commitment in consequence is execution; and no Court can discharge, on bail, a person that is in execution by the judgment of any other Court. The House of Commons, therefore, having an authority to commit, and that commitment being an execution, what can this Court do? It can do nothing, when a person is in execution by the judgment of a Court having a competent jurisdiction. ”

“ It is disclosed by the record that in two of the actions which were consolidated-that filed by the trustee and one on behalf of certain employees of the Memphis Appeal Company-liens were asserted upon all the assets which came into the possession of the receiver, viz., those embraced in the deed of trust which was sought to be foreclosed. The deed of trust was made long after the execution of the contract between Beckwith and the Memphis Appeal Company, and vested rights, if any, of Beckwith were not affected by the execution of the deed or by the appointment of a receiver. ”

“ The remaining question is whether in denying the right of an individual, in all criminal cases not capital, to have a jury composed of twelve jurors, the state deprives him of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. ”

“ It is difficult for us to understand how an ephemeral court, composed of men detailed as members, each one of whom is so detailed in direct violation of the statute on that subject which prohibits their sitting, can obtain any jurisdiction over the subject-matter or person even by the consent of the defendant. ”

“ These choices spawn a corollary question: must a judge allow prior felony impeachment of all civil witnesses as well as all criminal prosecution witnesses, or is Rule 609 (a) (1) inapplicable to civil cases, in which event Rule 403 would authorize a judge to balance in such cases? Because the plain text does not resolve these issues, we must examine the history leading to enactment of Rule 609 as law.
At common law a person who had been convicted of a felony was not competent to testify as a witness. ”

“ While one charged with a criminal offense has the constitutional right to be tried by a jury, the right of appeal from the verdict and judgment against him does not exist except by reason of the legislation of the state on the subject; and, when permitting an appeal, the lawmaking power has the right to determine for what cause a reversal may be had.'
The court of appeals also said, in passing on the contention of plaintiff in error, based on the examination of Alexander: 'It has also been held by this court that a trial for felony begins when the jury is sworn. ”

“ At the same time, the requirement that a criminal defendant consent to the additional duty of jury selection protects a defendant's interest in requesting the presence of a judge at all critical stages of his felony trial.
"If a criminal defendant, together with his attorney, believes that the presence of a judge best serves his interests during the selection of the jury, then Gomez preserves his right to object to the use of a magistrate. ”

“ Its explicit declaration is that upon the making and filing of the affidavit, the judge against whom it is directed 'shall proceed no further therein, but another judge shall be designated in the manner prescribed in * * * section twenty-three to hear such matter.' And the reason is easy to divine. To commit to the judge a decision upon the truth of the facts gives chance for the evil against which the section is directed. The remedy by appeal is inadequate. It comes after the trial and if prejudice exist it has worked its evil and a judgment of it in a reviewing tribunal is precarious. ”

“ The latter body is part of the machinery of a criminal court, and an injunction against a state court would be a violation of the whole scheme of our government. If an injunction against an individual is disobeyed, and he commences proceedings before a grand jury or in a court, such disobedience is personal only, and the court or jury can proceed without incurring any penalty on that account. ”

“ There was a bustle of excitement about the reporters' table. Here was a story!
"Very well," answered Miss Beekman proudly. "Do as you see fit, and as your own duty and conscience demand."
The judge could not conceal his annoyance. The last thing in the world that he wished to do was to send Miss Althea to jail. But having threatened her he must carry out his threat or forever lose face.
"I will give the witness until tomorrow morning at half after ten o'clock to make up her mind what she will do," he announced after a hurried conference with O'Brien. "Adjourn court!" ”

“ Kentucky has an undoubted right to regulate the forms of pleading and process in her own courts, in criminal as well as civil cases, and is not bound to conform to those of any other State. And whether the charge against Lago is legally and sufficiently laid in this indictment according to the laws of Kentucky, is a judicial question to be decided by the courts of the State, and not by the Executive authority of the State of Ohio. ”

“ Mr. Justice Peckham, in delivering the opinion, was careful to say that it was not held that where the indictment charged no offense against the United States or the evidence failed to show any, or, if it appeared that the offense charged was not committed or triable in the district to which the removal was sought, the judge would be justified in ordering the removal, because there would be no jurisdiction to commit or any to order the removal of the prisoner. ”

“ Railroad Co., above cited, 'the inference is that where it is manifest, upon the face of the record, that the defendants have no individual interest in the controversy, and that the relief sought against them is only in their official capacity as representatives of the state, which alone is to be affected by the judgment or decree, the question then arising, whether the suit is not substantially a suit against the state, is one of jurisdiction' ”

“ Whether such considerations influenced, or to what extent they should have influenced, the course of plaintiffs in error was for the jury, when determining whether punishment by exemplary damages should be inflicted. Further, if Captain Henry in good faith believed that Bean was guilty of such misconduct in the enlistment of the two deserters, it was his duty to communicate the facts and circumstances to his superior officer. If the order to Beckwith to arrest Bean was given by him in good faith, believing it to be his duty to obey the command of his superior officer, General Pitcher ”

“ When, therefore, it was conceded on the argument that if the affair at Lathrop had taken place in the court-room during the sitting of the court, the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court would be unquestionable, it is difficult for me to see why the whole question of federal jurisdiction was not embraced in that concession. Assassinating a judge on the bench would no more obstruct and defeat public justice than assassinating him on his way to the bench. In each case he is proceeding in the line of official duty imposed on him by law and his official oath. ”

“ Criminal law cannot be administered in a court of equity. Even in cases of public nuisances, where equity has jurisdiction, exceptional and extremely limited as it is, the question of nuisance or not must in cases of doubt be tried by a jury, and the injunction will be granted or not as that fact is decided. ”

“ He answers from information and belief that Beck did not collect from O'Hara any money, or receive from him any further security. The district judge, upon this testimony, instructed the jury that the defendants had the superior title, and their verdict was accordingly rendered for them.
The authority conferred upon the mandatary by the letter of attorney is special and limited, and his acts under it are valid only as they come within its scope and operation. He was bound to conform to the conditions it contains, and in its execution to adopt the modes it indicates. ”

“ That in the death of Judge Willson the Bench has lost a learned, upright and fearless Judge, ever doing right and equity among the suitors of his Court, fearing only the errors and mistakes to which a fallible human judgment is ever liable. Urbanity and courtesy to the older members of the Bar, protecting and loving kindness to its younger members, and deep and abiding interest in the reputation of all, were among his distinguishing characteristics. ”