Ex Parte Mato

Citations

• 19 Tex. Ct. App. 112
• 1885 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 169

Syllabus

<p>1. Habeas Corpus — Case Overruled.—It was held by this court in Parker’s case, 5 Texas Gt. App., 579, that a person accused of a criminal offense had no right, after the presentment of an indictment against him, to inquire, by writ of habeas corpus, into the constitutionality of the law under which he was arrested, and that his only means of testing that question was by trial in the appropriate court. Since the rendition of that decision the United States supreme court, in Ex parte Siebold, 100 U. S., 871, has held otherwise, and announced the contrary rule that not only after indictment, but even after conviction, the writ of habeas corpus is available to inquire into the constitutionality of the law under which the applicant was indicted and tried; and that if the law is determined to be unconstitutional, the prisoner should be discharged, no matter what may be the status of his case. Without concurring in the logic of this doctrine, this court adopts it, and, to harmonize its rulings therewith, overrules Parker’s case, supra.</p> <p>2. Constitutional Law—Delegation of Legislative Power—Case Stated. The applicant in this case, who was held in custody under an indictment charging him with theft, sought his discharge by means of the writ of habeas corpus, upon the ground that the term of the district court at which the indictment was preferred against him was held without authority of law, because, 1. The said term of the district court was fixed by the district judge and not by legislative enactment. 2. Because the acts of the Legislature purporting to confer upon district judges authority to fix the times for holding, and the terms of, the district court in newly organized counties, whenever any unorganized county in their district should become organized, was unconstitutional and void, such acts being an effort on the part of the Legislature to delegate a power it alone could exercise. The act thus called in question, entitled “An act to authorize district jud