Case No. 14,544.

UNITED STATES v. BATES.

SLAVE TRADE—HABEAS CORPUS—PROBABLE CAUSE—FAILURE TO INDICT—CRIMINAL LAW—COMMITMENT.

1. The act of congress declaring the slave trade to be piracy is constitutional.

2. A defendant arrested on a criminal charge, may be committed for a further examination, and held under such commitment for a reasonable time.

3. Where a prisoner is not indicted at the first term of the court, or the grand jury has ignored the bill, he is not entitled to be discharged.

4. On a habeas corpus, the court will only inquire whether the warrant of commitment states a sufficient probable cause to believe that the person charged has committed the offence stated.

[See U. S. v. Johns, 4 U. S. (4 Dall.) 413.]

5. On a hearing of a habeas corpus, it is competent for the court to look into the testimony on which the commitments were made.

[The above statement of the points determined was taken from Brightly's Dig. 161, 206, 211, 441. Nowhere reported; opinion not now accessible.]

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