Syllabus
1. Sect. 808 of the Revised Statutes, providing for impaneling grand juries and prescribing the number of which they shall consist, applies only to the Circuit and the District Courts of the United States. An indictment for bigamy under sect. 5352 may, therefore, be found in a district court of Utah, by a grand jury of fifteen persons, impaneled pursuant to the laws of that Territory.
2. A petit juror in a criminal case testified on his voire dire that he believed that he had formed an opinion, although not upon evidence produced in court, as to the guilt or innocence of the prisoner, but that he had not expressed it, and did not think that it would influence his verdict. He was thereupon challenged by the prisoner for cause. The court overruled the challenge. Held, that its action was not erroneous.
3. Where it is apparent from the record that the challenge of a petit juror, if it had been made by the United States for favor, should have been sustained, the judgment against the prisoner will not be reversed simply because the challenge was in form for cause.
4. Although the Constitution declares that, in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to be confronted with the witnesses against him, yet, if they are absent by his procurement, or when enough has been proved to cast upon him the burden of showing, and he, having full opportunity therefor, fails to show that he has not been instrumental in concealing them or in keeping them away, he is in no condition to assert that his constitutional right has been violated by allowing competent evidence of the testimony which they gave on a previous trial between the United States and him upon the same issue. Such evidence is admissible.
5. Said sect. 5352 is in all respects constitutional and valid.
6. The scope and meaning of the first article of the amendments to the Constitution discussed.
7. A party's religious belief cannot be accepted as a justification for his committing an overt act, made criminal by the law of the land. Where, therefore, the prisoner, knowing that his wife was living, married again in Utah, and, when indicted and tried therefor, set up that the church whereto he belonged enjoined upon its male members to practise polygamy, and that he, with the sanction of the recognized authorities of the church, and by a ceremony performed pursuant to its doctrines, did marry again -- held, that the court properly refused to charge the jury that he was entitled to an acquittal although they should find that he had contracted such second marriage pursuant to, and in conformity with, what he believed at the time to be a religious duty.
8. The court told the jury to
"consider what are to be the consequences to the innocent victims of this delusion [the doctrine of polygamy]. As this contest goes on, they multiply, and there are pure-minded women and there are innocent children -- innocent in a sense even beyond the degree of the innocence of childhood itself. These are to be the sufferers; and as jurors fail to do their duty, and as these cases come up in the Territory of Utah, just so do these victims multiply and spread themselves over the land."
Held, that the charge was not improper.
Syllabus
The legislative act of Utah, passed March 6, 1862, provides that a person convicted of a capital offense "shall suffer death by being shot, hanged, or beheaded," as the court may direct, or "he shall have his option as to the manner of his execution." Its Penal Code of 1876, by which all acts and parts of acts inconsistent therewith are repealed, provides that any person convicted of murder in the first degree "shall suffer death," and that
"the several sections of this code, which declare certain crimes to be punishable as therein mentioned, devolve a duty upon the court authorized to pass sentence, to determine and impose the punishment prescribed."
A., convicted of having, June 11, 1817, committed murder in the first degree in that territory, was, by the proper court thereof, sentenced to be publicly shot. Held that the sentence was not erroneous.
Syllabus
The offense of cohabiting with more than one woman, created by § 3 of the Act of Congress of March 22, 1882, ch. 47, 22 Stat. 31, in regard to polygamy in the Territory of Utah, is committed by a man who lives in the same house with two women, and eats at their respective tables one-third of his time, or thereabouts, and holds them out to the world, by his language or conduct, or both, as his wives, and it is not necessary to the commission of the offense that he and the two women, or either of them, should occupy the same bed or sleep in the same room or that he should have sexual intercourse with either of them.
An indictment under that section charged a male person with having unlawfully cohabited with more than one woman continuously for a specified time, naming two women, but did not allege that he was a male person, nor that he cohabited with the women as wives or as persons held out as wives. The statute provides that "if any male person . . . , hereafter cohabits with more than one woman, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor." The defendant pleaded not guilty
Syllabus
As the court had no jurisdiction in this case, 116 U. S. 116 U.S. 55, and it was decided at the present term, the judgment is vacated, the mandate recalled, and the writ of error dismissed.
Syllabus
There is no provision of law under which this Court can review a judgment of the Supreme Court of a Territory, on a conviction on an indictment for cohabiting with more than one woman, under § 3 of the Act of March 22, 1882, 22 Stat. 31.
The case which makes the question of jurisdiction decided by the Court is stated in its opinion. The question was not considered by counsel in argument, but on its own suggestion, the Court gave the parties an opportunity to file briefs, which was done by counsel for plaintiff in error.
Syllabus
Under the Organic Act of September 9, 1850, organizing the Territory of Utah, the attorney general of the territory, elected by the legislature thereof, and not the district attorney of the United States, appointed by the President, is entitled to prosecute persons accused of offenses against the laws of the territory.
By the Organic Act passed September 9, 1850, establishing the Territory of Utah, it was enacted:
"SECTION 6. The legislative power shall extend to all rightful subjects of legislation consistent with the Constitution of the United States and the provisions of this act."
By the ninth section, the judicial power was vested in a supreme court, district courts, probate courts, and justices of the peace, whose jurisdiction was to be limited by law...
Syllabus
The provision in § 501, Rev.Stats.Idaho, that
"No person who is a bigamist or polygamist, or who teaches, advises, counsels or encourages any person or persona to become bigamists or polygamists or to commit any other crime defined by law, or to enter into what is known as plural or celestial marriage, or who is a member of any order, organization, or association which teaches, advises, counsels or encourages its members or devotees or any other persons to commit the crime of bigamy or polygamy, or any other crime defined by law, either as a rite or ceremony of such order, organization or association or otherwise, is permitted to vote at any election, or to hold any position or office of honor, trust or profit within this territory"
is an exercise of the legislative power conferred upon territories by Rev.Stat. §§ 1851, 1859, and is not open to any constitutional or legal objection.
Bigamy and polygamy are crimes by the laws of the United States, by the laws of Idaho, and by the laws of all civilized and Christian countries, and to call their advocacy a tenet of religion is to offend the common sense of mankind.
A crime is nonetheless so, nor less odious, because sanctioned by what any particular sect may designate as religion.
It was never intended that the first Article of Amendment to the Constitution, that "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," should be a protection against legislation for the punishment of acts inimical to the peace, good order and morals of society.
The second subdivision of § 504 Rev.Stats.Idaho, requiring every person desiring to have his name registered as a voter to take an oath that he does not belong to an order that advises a disregard of the criminal law of the Territory, is not open to any valid legal objection.
The Act of Congress of March 22, 7882, 22 Stat. 31, c. 47, "to amend section fifty-three hundred and fifty-two of the Revised Statutes of the United States in reference to bigamy, and for other purposes," does not restrict the legislation of the territories over kindred offenses or over the means for their ascertainment and prevention.
The cases in which the legislation of Congress will supersede the legislation of a state or territory without specific provisions to that effect are those in which the same matter is the subject of legislation by both.
Syllabus
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was incorporated February, 1851, by an act of assembly of the so-called State of Deseret, which was afterwards confirmed by act of the Territorial Legislature of Utah, the corporation being a religious one, and its property and fund, held for the religious and charitable objects of the society, a prominent object being the promotion and practice of polygamy, which was prohibited by the laws of the United States. Congress, in 1887, passed an act repealing the act of incorporation and abrogating the charter and directing legal proceedings for seizing its property and winding up its affairs.
Syllabus
Congress having, by joint resolution approved October 25, 1893, declared the uses to which the property of the Mormon Church should be devoted, the Court remands this case for farther proceedings in the supreme court of the territory in conformity with the provisions of that resolution.
This was a motion for a decree. The case is stated in the opinion.
Syllabus
The court now orders a decree entered in this case, for which purpose it was reserved at the last term. See Mormon Church v. United States, 136 U. S. 1, 136 U. S. 66.
