Chin Wah v. Colwell
Chin Wah v. Colwell
Opinion of the Court
The appellant was arrested upon a warrant issued by a commissioner of the United States for the district of Oregon, charging him with being a Chinese laborer, a subject of the Chinese Empire, and having no lawful right to be and remain in the United States, as provided by the act of May 5, 1892, and the amendment of 1893. The commissioner found that the facts charged in the complaint were true, and ordered that the appellant be deported to China. The appellant took his appeal to the District Court, and thereupon applied to be admitted to bail pending the hearing upon the appeal. The District Court held that the power to admit to hail in such a case was discretionary, and in -view of the facts of the particular case, and because of the reluctance of the appellant to proceed to a hearing, denied the application. A petition for a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of the appellant was then presented to the District Court. The writ was denied, and the appellant was remanded to the custody of the United States marshal without bail. From the order denying the writ the present appeal is taken.
The contention of the appellant is that Congress, by the exclusion law of May 5, 1892, recognized the absolute right to bail, of Chinese domiciled in the United States at the time of their arrest for deportation. The argument is that by enacting section 5 of said act, which expressly prohibits the courts, of the United States from allowing to bail Chinese persons seeking to land in the United States in the first instance, Congress intended to make a distinction between the case of one seeking to land in the United States in the first instance, and one domiciled and residing in the United States at the time of his arrest for deportation, and that from the express denial of bail in the former case, there is to be inferred the positive right to bail in the latter case.
“We are unwilling to hold that the Circuit Courts possess no power in respect of admitting to bail other than as specifically vested by statute, or that, while bail should not ordinarily be granted in cases of foreign extradition, those courts may not in any ease, and whatever the special circumstances, extend that relief.”
But the language of the court in that case is not to be taken as by analogy affirming the proposition that the courts of the United States have the inherent power to admit to bail in deportation cases. It -is uniformly conceded that those courts can exercise no powers not vested in them by statute.
The order of the court below is affirmed.
For other eases see same topic* & § numbkk in Deq. & Am. Digs. 1907 to date, & Rep’r Indexes
Reference
- Full Case Name
- CHIN WAH v. COLWELL, U. S. Marshal
- Cited By
- 11 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Aliens (§ 32*) — Chinese Deportation — Bail. Proceedings for deportation of Chinese aliens not being criminal in character, the general statutory provisions concerning bail in criminal cases do not apply thereto. [Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Aliens, Cent. Dig. § 91; Dec. Dig. § 32.*] 2. Aliens (§ 32*) — Chinese Persons — Deportation Proceedings — Bail — Statutes — Application. Act Cong. Nov. 3, 1893, c. 14, § 2, 28 Stat. 8 (U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 1322), regulating deportation of Chinese, and providing that,'after determination by the District Court of an appeal from a deportation order, the order shall be executed by the marshal with all convenient dispatch, and pending such execution the Chinese person shall remain in the marshal’s custody and shall not be admitted to bail, applies, and denies bail only when a final order of deportation has been made, and has no application to the question whether bail may be allowed pending an appeal from the decision of the commissioner. [Ed. Note. — For other eases, see Aliens, Cent. Dig. § 94; Dec. Dig. § 32.*] 3. Aliens (§ 32*) — Deportation of Chinese — Bail. Chinese Exclusion Act May 5, 1892, c. 60, § 5, 27 Stat. 25 (U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 1319), prohibits courts of the United States from allowing bail in deportation proceedings against Chinese persons seeking to land in the United States in the first instance, and Act Cong. Nov. 3. 1893, e. 14, § 2, 28 Stat. 8 (U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 1322), prohibits the allowance of bail after the rendition of a final deportation order and pending its execution by the marshal. IIeld, that such sections, by implication, did not give an absolute right to bail to a Chinese person domiciled and residing in the United States at the time of his arrest for deportation, pending an aplica 1 from a commissioner's order to the District Court, but authorized the granting or withholding of bail under such circumstances in the exercise of discretion. [Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Aliens, Cent. Dig. § 94; Dec. Dig. § 32.*]