Johnson v. Sayre

Citations

• 158 U.S. 109
• 15 S. Ct. 773
• 39 L. Ed. 914
• 1895 U.S. LEXIS 2235

Syllabus

<p>In the Fifth Article of Amendments to the Constitútion of the United States, providing that “ no person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger,” the words “ when- in actual service in time of war or public- danger” apply to the militia only.</p> <p>A paymaster’s clerk in the navy, regularly appointed, and assigned to duty on a receiving ship, is a person in the naval service of the United States, subject t.o. be tried and convicted, and to be sentenced to imprisonment, by a general court martial, for a violation of section 1624 of the Revised Statutes.</p> <p>Article-43 of the Articles for the Government of the Navy, (Rev. Stat. § 1624,) requiring the accused to be furnished with a copy of the charges and specifications “at the time he is put under arrest,” refers to his arrest for trial by court martial; and, if he is already in custody to await the result of a court of inquiry, is sufficiently complied with by delivering the copy to him immediately after the Secretary of the Navy has informed him of that result, and has ordered a court martial to convene to try him.</p> <p>The decision and sentence of a court martial, having jurisdiction of the person accused and of the offence charged, and acting within the scope ' of its lawful powers, cannot be reviewed or set aside by writ of habeas corpus.</p>