In Re Claasen

Citations

• 140 U.S. 200
• 11 S. Ct. 735
• 35 L. Ed. 409
• 1891 U.S. LEXIS 2453

Syllabus

<p>Under § 5 of the act of March 3, 1891, entitled “ An act to establish Circuit Courts of Appeals, and to define and regulate in certain cases the jurisdiction of the fcourts of the United States and for other purposes,” a writ of error may, even before July 1, 1891, issue from this court to a Circuit.Court, in the case of a conviction of a crime under § 5209 of the Revised Statutes, where the conviction occurred May 28, 1890, but a sentence of imprisonment in a penitentiary was imposed March 18,1891.</p> <p>A crime is “ infamous ” under that act, where it is punishable by imprisonment in a state prison or penitentiary, whether -the accused is or is not sentenced or put to hard labor.</p> <p>Such writ of error is a matter of right, and, under § 999 of the Revised Statutes, the citation may be signed' by a justice of this court, as an authority for the issuing of the writ under § 1004.</p> <p>At the time of the conviction, no writ of error from this court, in the case, was provided for by statute, nor was any bill of exceptions, with a view to a writ of error, provided for by statute-or rule; and, therefore, a mandamus will not lie to the judge who presided at the trial, to compel him to settle a bill of exceptions which was presented to him for settlement after the sentence; nor can the minutes of the trial, as settled - by the judge by consent, and signed by him, and printed and filed in July, 1890, and on which a motion for a new trial was heard in October, 1890, be treated by this court, on the return to the writ, of error, as a bill of exceptions properly forming part of the record.</p> <p>A criminal court in the Southern District of New York, sitting ás a Circuit</p> <p>. Court therein, under § 613 of the Revised Statutes, and composed of the three judges named in that section, to hear a motion for a new trial and an arrest of judgment, in a criminal case previously tried by a jury before one of them, is a legally constituted tribunal.</p> <p>A justice of this