U.S. Supreme Court DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA V. CLAWANS , 300 U.S. 617 (1937)

300 U.S. 617

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIAv. CLAWANS.No. 103.

Reargued March 1, 1937.Decided April 5, 1937.[ District of Columbia v. Clawans

[Page 300 U.S. 617 , 624]

(1929) Tit. 18, 165, provides that prosecutions in the police court shall be on information and that the trial shall be by jury in all cases 'in which, according to the Constitution of the United States, the accused would be entitled to a jury trial,' and that, 'in all cases where the accused would not by force of the Constitution of the United States be entitled to a trial by jury, the trial shall be by the court without a jury, unless in * * * cases wherein the fine or penalty may be more than $ 300, or imprisonment as punishment for the offense may be more than ninety days, the accused shall demand a trial by jury, in which case the trial shall be by jury.' Article 3, section 2, clause 3, of the Constitution, provides that 'the Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury.' The Sixth Amendment declares that 'in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed.'

It is settled by the decisions of this Court, which need not now be discussed in detail, that the right of trial by jury, thus secured, does not extend to every criminal proceeding. At the time of the adoption of the Constitution there were numerous offenses, commonly described as 'petty,' which were tried summarily without a jury, by justices of the peace in England, and by police magistrates or corresponding judicial officers in the Colonies, and punished by commitment to jail, a workhouse, or a house of correction. [Footnote 1] We think, as the Court of Appeals held and

[Page 300 U.S. 617 , 626]

usual punishment for petty offenses, tried without a jury. Laying aside those for which the punishment was of a type no longer commonly employed, such as whipping, confinement in stocks, and the like, and others, punished by commitment for an indefinite period, we know that there were petty offenses, triable summarily under English statutes, which carried possible sentences of imprisonment for periods from three to twelve months. 2 At least sixteen statutes, passed prior to the time of the American Revolution by the Colonies, or shortly after by the newlycreated states, authorized the summary punishment of petty offenses by imprisonment for three months or more. [Footnote 3] And at least eight others were punishable by imprisonment for six months. [Footnote 4]

[Page 300 U.S. 617 , 628]

that a penalty of ninety days is too much. Doubts must be resolved, not subjectively by recourse of the judge to his own sympathy and emotions, but by objective standards such as may be observed in the laws and practices of the community taken as a gauge of its social and ethical judgments.

Congress itself, by measuring the punishment in this case in conformity to the commonly accepted standard when the Constitution was adopted, and declaring that it should be applied today unless found to transgress constitutional limitations, has expressed its deliberate judgment that the punishment is not too great to be summarily administered. A number of states have continued in force statutes providing for trial, without a jury, of violations of municipal ordinances, and sundry petty statutory offenses, punishable by commitment for three months or more. [Footnote 6] Convictions under such legislation have been up

[Page 300 U.S. 617 , 629]

held many times in the state courts, despite objections to the denial of a jury trial. [Footnote 7] In England many acts of Parliament now in force, authorizing ninety day punishments, call for summary trials. [Footnote 8]

[Page 300 U.S. 617 , 634]

that it might be denied where imprisonment for a considerable time or liability for fifteen times $20 confronts the accused.

In view of the opinion just announced, it seems permissible to inquire what will become of the other solemn declarations of the Amendment. Constitutional guarantees ought not to be subordinated to convenience, nor denied upon questionable precedents or uncertain reasoning. See Boyd v. United States, 116 U.S. 616, 635; In re Debs et al., 158 U.S. 564, 594.

We concur in the conclusion of the Court concerning unfairness of the trial and the necessity for a new one.

This cause shows the grave danger to liberty when one accused must submit to the uncertain judgment of a single magistrate. Footnotes

Footnote 1 4 Blackstone, Commentaries, 280, 281; McNamara's Paley on Summary Convictions (4th Ed.1856) 10Ä12; Dillon, Municipal Corporations, 433 ( 5th Ed.1911, 750). A comprehensive collection of the statutes, English and American, will be found in Petty Federal Offenses and the Constitutional Guaranty of Trial by Jury, 39 Harv.L.Rev. 917, 922Ä965, 983Ä 1019.

Footnote 2 Three months: 5 Anne, c. 14, IV; 1 Geo. I, c. 48, II. Six months: 17 Geo. II, c. 5, IX. One year: 5 Eliz., c. 4, XXI; 5 Eliz., c. 15, II; 7 Jac. I, c. 4, VII; 8 Geo. I, c. 2, XXXVI; 15 Geo. II, c. 33, VI.

Footnote 3 Georgia: 18 Colonial Records (Candler) 588 (1764). Maryland: Laws 1768 (Kilty) c. 29, 16. Massachusetts: Province Laws 1764Ä1765, c. 30, 2, 5, 4 Acts and Resolves of Mass. Province p. 763. New Hampshire: Laws 1696 (8 Wm. III) c. 1, 1. New Jersey: Paterson's Laws of New Jersey, at page 410, 3 (Act of June 10, 1799). New York: 3 Colonial Laws p. 318 ( 1743); 3 Id. p. 855 (1751); 4 Id. p. 304 (1758); 4 Id. p. 349 (1759); 4 Id. p. 748 (1763); 4 Id. p. 925 (1766). North Carolina: Laws 1778, c. 2, 24 State Records 157Ä159. Pennsylvania: 7 Stat. at Large Pa. from 1682 to 1801, c. 534, 12 (1766): 8 Id., c. 623, 2 (1771). Virginia: 29 Geo. II, c. 4, 4 (1756), 7 Henning's St. at Large, p. 37; Laws 1787, c. 48, 13 ( 12 Henning's St. at Large, p. 573). See, also, Connecticut, 1786 Stat. 36 ( four months).

Footnote 4 Maryland: Laws 1715 (Kilty) c. 44, 34. Massachusetts: Province Laws 1752Ä53, c. 16, 1, 3 Acts and Resolves of Mass. Province p. 645. New Hampshire: 3 Laws of New Hampshire (Metcalf) c. 6, p. 72 (1754); 4 Id. c. 4, p. 75 (1777). New Jersey: 27 & 28 Geo. II, c. 261, 11, Acts of Province of New Jersey (Allinson) 198, 201 (1754). New York: 3 Colonial Laws, p. 1096 (1755); Laws 1785, c. 40, 3; Laws 1785, c. 47, 2.

Footnote 5 See footnote 2, supra.

Footnote 6 (A) Statutes embracing violations of municipal ordinances generally. E.g.: Ariz.Rev.Code (Struckmeyer, 1928) 382, 442 (three months); Neb. Comp.Stat. (1929) 18-201, 18-205 (three months); New Mex.Stats. ( Courtright, 1929) 90-402(66), 90-901, 90-910, 79-322 (three months); Nev.Comp.Laws (Hillyer, 1929) 1128(1), 1167 (six months); Wyo.Rev.Stat. ( Courtright, 1931) 22-402, 22-409 (three months).

(B) Statutes commanding summary trial for specified offenses. E.g.: N. J.Comp.Laws (1924 Supp.), 135Ä63(3), 135Ä76 (operating motor vehicle under influence of liquor; six months; see Klinges v. Court of Common Pleas, 130 A. 601, 3 N.J.Misc. 1084, 4 N.J.Misc. 7); N.J.Comp.Laws (1930 Supp.) 160Ä222, 3 (disorderly persons act; three months penalty, see N.J. Laws 1898, p. 954, increased to one year by Laws 1910, p. 37 (2 Comp.St. 1910, p. 1937, 40)); 18 Pa.Stat.Ann.(Purdon) 2033 (vagrancy; six months); section 2832 (frequenting of public places by thieves, for unlawful purpose; three months).

The most extensive elimination of the jury prevails in New York. The three-judge Court of Special Sessions, sitting without a jury, has jurisdiction to try all misdemeanors (i.e., offenses punishable with one year's imprisonment, N.Y. Penal Law 1937) committed in New York City. Inferior Criminal Courts Act of the city of New York, N.Y.Laws 1910, c. 659, 31(1), (4). A city magistrate sitting alone may try certain misdemeanors, including violations of N.Y.Penal Law 1566, proscribing the sale of street railroad transfer tickets, Inferior Criminal Courts Act , 43(d), added by Laws 1915, c. 531. Other legislation, statewide in application, provides for summary trial and conviction of persons guilty of disorderly conduct (six months), N.Y.Penal Law 723, 724; of persons frequenting a public place for purposes of crime (100 days), N.Y.Code Crim. Proc. 898-a; of 'vargrants' (one year in jail; three years in correctional institution), N.Y.Code Crim.Proc. 891, 891-a.

Footnote 7 In Wilmarth v. King (1908) 74 N.H. 512, 69 A. 889, 18 L.R.A.(N.S.) 398, the court approved a statute authorizing six months' imprisonment as not exceeding in magnitude the pre-Revolutionary punishments. In the following cases convictions under statutes authorizing commitiment for three months or more were upheld and the right to jury trial held properly denied. Bray v. State (1904) 140 Ala. 172, 37 So. 250; State v. Parker ( 1924) 87 Fla. 181, 100 So. 260; State v. Glenn (1880) 54 Md. 572; State v. Broms (1918) 139 Minn. 402, 166 N.W. 771; State v. Anderson (1925) 165 Minn. 150, 206 N.W. 51; Bell v. State (1920) 104 Neb. 203, 176 N.W. 544; State v. Kacin (1932) 123 Neb. 64, 241 N.W. 785; People ex rel. St. Clair v. Davis (1911) 143 App.Div. 579, 127 N.Y.S. 1072; People v. Harding (1921) 115 Misc. 298, 189 N.Y.S. 657; Byers v. Commonwealth (1862) 42 Pa. 89.

Footnote 8 Thirty-seven offenses are listed in Stone's Justices' Manual (66th Ed. 1934), Appendix of Table of Punishments for Offences Cognizable Under the Summary Jurisdiction, pp. 1904Ä1945. E.g., Frauds by Workmen Act, 1777, 17 Geo. III, c. 56, 1; Merchandise Marks Act, 1887, 50 & 51 Vict., c. 28 , 2; Agricultural Marketing Act, 1933, 23 & 24 Geo. V, c. 31, 6(5).

Several of the statutes specify larger penalties, but by section 17 of the Summary Judicature Act, 1879, 42Ä43 Vict., c. 49, except in cases of assault, sentences exceeding three months cannot be administered unless the accused has been offered the choice of trial by jury.