14

custody the bodies of William Thomas Valiant and James
Young, committed this third day of November, 1866, in de-
fault of bail on the above order.

WM. THOMPSON,

Sheriff of Baltimore City.

And this warrant or commitment is set out in the return
as legal cause for the detainer of these petitioners.

It is difficult to understand by what authority the Judge
of the Criminal Court passed this order. None of the coun-
sel who have appeared in support of the return have sug-
gested any sound or even plausible reason by which the ex-
ercise of such power and jurisdiction by that court can be
supported. Under the guise of a recognizance to keep the
peace, this order is in reality a special injunction restraining
these petitioners from exercising a public office till their title
is tried and decided by law. Certainly it requires no argu-
ment to show that the Criminal Court had no power to pass
such an order, or to commit the parties to jail for refusing
to comply with it, and that such commitment can furnish no
legal cause for their detainer.

In order fully to understand the effect of this order, and
the circumstances under which it was passed, it is necessary
to advert to the facts disclosed in the evidence before me.

Under the police law of the city of Baltimore, 2d Code,
sections 806 to 832, and the amendments thereto by the Act
of 1862, chapter 131, Samuel Hindes and Nicholas L. Wood
had been elected by the General Assembly, Police Commis-
sioneis, and were duly commissioned, qualified and acting as
such. By the act of 1862, under which they held their office,
it is enacted:

"For official misconduct any of the said Commissioners
may be removed by a concurrent vote of the two Houses of
the General Assembly, or by the Governor during the recess
thereof."

Complaints against Hindes and Wood of official miscon-
duct being made to the Governor, he proceeded, in accord-
ance with the 13th and 14th sections of Article 42 of the
Code, and, after hearing the evidence and arguments of
counsel on both sides, adjudged and decided that the parties
com plained against were guilty of official misconduct as charged,
and passed his judgment and order removing them from
office. A copy thereof, under the great seal of the State,
was served upon them, and the Governor thereupon, under
his power to fill vacancies in the Board, appointed these peti-
tioners, Young and Valiant, Police Commissioners, the
former in the place of Hindes, and the latter in the place of
Wood, and commissions were delivered to them on the 2d
day of November. On the same day they qualified, by
taking the official oaths prescribed by the Constitution and