Hartranft v. Mullowny, 247 U.S. 295 (1918)

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Hartranft v. Mullowny

No. 19

Argued February 23, 1916
Restored to docket for reargument November 13, 1916
Reargued November 7, 8, 1917
Decided June 3, 1918
247 U.S. 295

ERROR TO THE COURT OF APPEALS

OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Syllabus

Under Jud.Code, § 250, judgments of the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia in criminal cases, and judgments which are not final, are not reviewable by writ of error upon the ground that the jurisdiction of the trial court is in issue, or upon the ground that the construction of a law of the United States was brought in question by the defendant.

The jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia to supervise the criminal proceedings of inferior tribunals by removal and review through certiorari is analogous to that of the Court of King’s Bench, and the nature and functions of the writ in such cases are to be tested by common law principles.

At common law, when a cause before judgment was removed by certiorari in order that justice might be done by quashing the indictment or information or proceeding to trial, or otherwise, as the circumstances might require, the nature of the cause was not changed by the removal, and a judgment quashing the writ was followed by a procedendo as a matter of course.

The Supreme Court of the District, having by certiorari removed for consideration a criminal case from the local police court upon a petition alleging want of jurisdiction and insufficiency of the information, afterwards entered judgment that the writ be quashed, the petition dismissed, and the record "remanded" to the police court "whence it came." This judgment having been appealed to and affirmed by the Court of Appeals, held: (1) that the judgment was in a case arising under the criminal law, (2) that it was not final, and (3) that, for these reasons, a writ of error under Jud.Code § 250 would not lie.

Writ of error to review 43 App.D.C. 44 dismissed.

The case is stated in the opinion.