Case Summary

Arrested after giving his customer trading stamps which could be redeemed at his company for merchandise, James H. Flaherty petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus claiming that the ordinance used to convict him in Police Court was unconstitutional, therefore, he was being deprived of his liberty. Judge Holmes granted the petition. In his statement, Holmes claimed that the charge and arrest dealt with public morality, not public safety, thus it was not a valid exercise of police power. He also ruled that Flaherty's method of advertising was not improper, and that the ordinance he was charged with violating was unconstitutional. He cites rulings in several other states. He allowed the writ and ordered that Flaherty be released from custody.

Case Information

Petition type(s)

• Carceral

Petition subtype(s)

• Consumer fraud

Outcome

Writ allowed

Fate of bound party

Released from custody

Case Citation

RG207 Lancaster County Subgroup 9: Series 4 Daily Journal #42: Nov. 1902-Dec. 1903, p. 454; 455-456; RG207 Lancaster County Subgroup 9: Series 3 Appearance Docket F, p. 108

Source material(s)

Journal | Docket

Repository(s)

• History Nebraska (Lincoln, Nebraska)

State

• Nebraska

Point(s) of law cited

an ordinance to prevent the sale or exchange of property under the inducement that a gift or prize is to be part of the transaction|Sate V Long 74 Md. 565|Commonwealth V Emerson 165 Mass. 234|People V Gilpin 109 NY 389|Commonwealth V Sisson 50 NE Rep. 385|People V Dycker 72 App. Div. NY 308|State V Dalton 46 Atlantic Rep. RI 234

People

• Flaherty, James H. (petitioner)
• Flaherty, James H. (bound party)
• Routzahn, Olin M. (respondent)
• Routzahn, Olin M. (responding party)
• Routzahn, Olin M. (holding party)
• Woods, Frank H. (petitioner attorney)
• Holmes, Edward P. (judge)

• Additional parties

  Branson, Z. S. (sheriff)