In re Milecke

Citations

• 52 Wash. 312
• 100 P. 743
• 1909 Wash. LEXIS 1113

Syllabus

<p>Habeas Corpus — Warrant — Sufficiency — Remedy by Appeal. The sufficiency of a warrant will not be inquired into upon an application for a writ of habeas corpus to release a prisoner held thereunder, the remedy being by appeal.</p> <p>Constitutional Law — Imprisonment for Debt — Fraudulent Contraction of Bills' — Innkeepers—Statute—Construction. Laws 1903, p. 244, making it a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for any person to fraudulently incur an innkeepers’, boarding or lodging house bill or secure accomodations by false pretenses without paying for the same, or to surreptitiously remove baggage without such payment, does not violate Const., art. 1, § 17, prohibiting imprisonment for debt except in the case of absconding debtors; since the imprisonment is for the fraud committed.</p> <p>Constitutional Law — Imprisonment for Debt. “Debt” within the meaning of the constitutional provision that there shall be no imprisonment for debt refers to contract obligations and not to obligations arising from fraud or in tort.</p> <p>Constitutional Law — Encroachment on Judiciary- — Rule of Evidence. Laws 1903, p. 244, § 2, providing that refusing or neglecting to pay a bill, or surreptitiously removing baggage, shall be primet facie evidence of intent to defraud in contracting an innkeeper’s bill, is not unconstitutional; as the legislature may prescribe the quantum and order of proof.</p>