Ex parte Ellis

Citations

• 11 Cal. 222

Syllabus

<p>The writ of habeas corpus should not issue to run out of the county, unless for good cause shown ; as the absence, disability or refusal to act of the local Judge, or other reason, showing that the object and reason of the law requires its issuance.</p> <p>If the local Judge refuses to act, then resort may be had to officers out of the county. The Legislature can never have intended that a party imprisoned under sentence of conviction for a misdemeanor, should have the privilege of selecting from the judiciary of the whole State the individual to whom he prefers to make his application, however distant from the place of his detention, and compel the officer having him in charge to convey him, at the expense of the county.</p> <p>It is the duty of the courts to execute all laws according to their true intent and meaning : that intent, when collected from the whole and every part of the statute taken together, must prevail, even over the literal sense of the terms, and control the strict letter of the law, when the letter would lead to possible injustice, contradiction and absurdity.</p> <p>Eiekd, J.—Although the Supreme Court may issue the writ of habeas corpus, its allowance in term time is not obligatory, but rests in the sound legal discretion of the Court. To allow it may be obligatory upon the Judges in their individual capacity.</p>