United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Carbo v. United States, 364 U.S. 611 (1961)

Carbo v. United States

No. 72

Argued November 16, 1960

Decided January 9, 1961

364 U.S. 611

Syllabus

Under 28 U.S.C. § 2241, the United States District Court for the Southern District of California had jurisdiction in the circumstances of this case to issue a writ of habeas corpus ad prosequendum directing a New York City prison official to deliver petitioner, a prisoner of that City, to California for trial on an indictment pending there in the District Court. Pp. 364 U. S. 611-622.

(a) At common law, the term habeas corpus was a generic term, including many species of that writ and including the writ of habeas corpus ad prosequendum. Pp. 364 U. S. 614-615.

(b) The territorial limitation in § 2241, "within their respective jurisdictions," refers to issuance of the Great Writ, habeas corpus ad subjiciendum, for an inquiry into the cause of restraint, with which the bulk of the Act is concerned, and not to writs of habeas corpus ad prosequendum. P. 364 U. S. 619.

(c) To the extent that lower court decisions have relied upon a contrary construction of § 2241, this Court disapproves of their conclusions. P. 364 U. S. 621.

277 F.2d 433 affirmed.