Document Type
Response or Comment
Publication Date
1-1922
Abstract
The recent decision of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in Dominguez v. State, 234 S. W. 79, has given us an important precedent and also a valuable example of the solution of novel problems by means of analogies. A detachment of the military forces of the United States had been authorized by the War Department to enter Mexico on the "hot trail" in pursuit of bandits. While following a "hot trail" this detachment arrested Dominguez, a native citizen and resident of Mexico, and returned with him to the United States. It developed later that he was not one of the bandits who made the "hot trail." Dominguez was thereupon turned over, without his consent, to the authorities of Texas, and was indicted and convicted for a murder previously committed in Texas. It was held upon appeal that the prisoner might resist trial for the offense charged in the indictment until such time as he should voluntarily subject himself to the jurisdiction of the United States or until the consent of the Mexican government to his trial should be obtained. There was no precedent in the decided cases. Counsel argued for the application by analogy of the principles which control in the decision of extradition cases. In reliance upon the extradition analogies the case was decided.
Recommended Citation
Dickinson, Edwin D. "The 'Hot Trail' into Mexico and Extradition Analogies." Mich. L. Rev. 20 (1922): 536-7.