Thomas v. Evans
Thomas v. Evans
Opinion of the Court
The errors complained of are stated in a number of differing forms, but the substance of all is that the probate court erred in overruling the motion of the sheriff to dismiss the action and remand Evans to his custody to be dealt with according to law, and in ordering him discharged.
But we are of opinion that a preliminary question arising upon the record should first be considered. That is: Irrespective of the questions above stated, did the probate court, under the pleadings, have power to grant any relief to the petitioner? The question reaches to the jurisdiction of that court of the subject matter. Section 7 of article 4 of the constitution provides for the establishment in each county of a probate court, which shall be a court of record, and the following section provides for its jurisdiction. It “shall have jurisdiction in probate and testamentary matters, the appointment of administrators and guardians, the settlement of the accounts of executors, administrators and guardians, and such jurisdiction in habeas corpus, * * * as may be provided by law. ’ ’ The jurisdiction, then, of that court, in habeas corpus rests wholly on the statute law of the state. What is it? Pursuant to this constitutional authority, the general assembly, by the act of February 25,1852 (50 O. L., 84), conferred upon the probate court jurisdiction in allowing and issuing writs of habeas corpus, and that enactment has been continued, although expressed in different language by divers amendments, and is now embodied in section 5727 of the Revised Statutes.
In passing it may be remarked that the right of one state to demand, and the duty of another state
This legislation has been held to be constitutional so far as it is in aid of the provisions of the constitution of the United States and the federal statute hereinbefore cited. Ex parte Ammons, 34 Ohio St., 518. What, then, is its effect upon the case before us 1 The command upon the sheriff is imperative. He must take the prisoner before, a judge of the class enumerated in the statute. No other will answer' that requirement. The very language excludes a judge of the probate court from the number. The sheriff is, therefore, in positive disobedience of the strict command of the statute if he take his prisoner before a judge not of the kind enumerated in this statute who may, at his discretion, set the arrested person free and thus absolutely nullify the statute. Plainly, then, if under the general act of 1852, giving jurisdiction to the probate court in habeas corpus that court can step in and arrest the course of procedure peremptorily required by the later statute affecting extradition, we have two statutes apparently in direct conflict. In such situation which should prevail ? We think the rule applicable to the case is free from serious doubt. It is that when such conflict is found to exist the terms of the later special act must be held to embody the latest expressed intent of the law-making body, and must control. To the extent of the repugnancy the earlier act is repealed; there being specific provisions relating to a particular subject, they must govern in respect to that subject,
The conclusion seems inevitable that, applying the extradition statute to the subject matter, the probate court was without power to control the sheriff in the discharge of a plain statutory duty,.and that as soon as it appeared that the cause of the detention of Evans by the sheriff was the possession and arrest under it of a warrant from the governor of Ohio, ordering such arrest of Evans as a fugitive from justice and that he be taken before one of the judges enumerated in the statute, and this condition appeared conclusively so soon as the reply was filed, the plain and only duty of that court was to dismiss the proceeding, and release to the sheriff the custody of the alleged fugitive. In view of this conclusion it ÍS' not necessary to dispose of the other questions so ably argued by the eminent counsel, and they are not here considered.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.