United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

McKane v. Durston, 153 U.S. 684 (1894)

McKane v. Durston

No. 1185

Submitted April 23, 1894

Decided May 14, 1894

153 U.S. 684

Syllabus

In the State of New York, the committal to prison of a person convicted of crime without giving him an opportunity, pending an appeal, to furnish bail is in conformity with the laws of that state when no certificate is furnished by the judge who presided at the trial or by a justice of the supreme court of the state that in his opinion there is reasonable doubt whether the judgment should stand, and such committal under such circumstances violates no provision of the Constitution of the United States.

An appeal to a higher court from a judgment of conviction is not a matter of absolute right, independently of constitutional or statutory provisions allowing it, and a state may accord it to a person convicted of crime upon such terms as it thinks proper.

The case is stated in the opinion.

Page 153 U. S. 685