Henry v. Henkel

Citations

• 207 F. 805
• 1913 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1352

Syllabus

<p>Habeas Corpus (§ 15*)—Congressional Inquiry—Probable Cause—Refusal to Testify.</p> <p>That a witness before a committee of the House of Representatives, which was acting under a resolution authorizing inquiry, as a basis for remedial legislation, into the subject of the relations of national banks in various directions, refused to give the names of officers of national banks, who, as he testified, were members of a certain syndicate, constitutes “probable cause” (the sole inquiry in habeas corpus proceedings) for the warrant for his commission to the custody of the marshal to await a warrant for his removal to the District of Columbia, where he had been indicted under Rev. St. § 102 (U. S. Comp. St. 1901. p. 55), malrfns it an offense for a witness before any committee of Congress to refuse to answer any question “pertinent to the question under inquiry”; the subject being one Congress could investigate, and the question not encroaching on the domain of inquisitorial power, and invading no constitutional rights of the witness.</p> <p>[Ed. Note.—For other cases, see Habeas Corpus, Cent. Dig. § 15; Dee. Dig. § 15.*]</p>