Ex parte Munn

Citations

• 140 F. 782
• 1905 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 118

Syllabus

<p>Courts — Habeas Corpus — Jurisdiction of Federal Courts — Violation of Constitutional Rights.</p> <p>Under Rev. St. § 753 [U. S. Comp St. 1901, p. 592], which provides that “the writ of habeas corpus shall in no case extend to a prisoner in jail unless he is in custody * * * in violation of the Constitution or of a law or treaty of the United States,” a federal court has no' power on such a writ to discharge a prisoner confined for contempt by a state court for refusing to answer questions as a witness, on the ground that his answers might incriminate him; the provision of the fifth constitutional amendment that no person shall be compelled in a criminal ease to be a witness against himself being a limitation solely on the powers of the national government and its courts and officers.</p> <p>[Ed. Note. — Jurisdiction of federal courts in habeas corpus, see note to In re Huse, 25 C. C. A. 4.]</p>