From Casetext: Smarter Legal Research

Hurley v. Lindsay

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit
Oct 8, 1953
207 F.2d 410 (4th Cir. 1953)

Summary

stating that appellant's remedy was a motion in the sentencing court

Summary of this case from Grimm v. Co. Comm'rs of Wash. Co.

Opinion

No. 6662.

Argued October 5, 1953.

Decided October 8, 1953.

George Robert Hurley, pro se, on brief.

Richard R. Ryder, Asst. U.S. Atty., Richmond, Va. (L.S. Parsons, Jr., U.S. Atty., Norfolk, Va., on brief), for appellee.

Before PARKER, Chief Judge, and SOPER and DOBIE, Circuit Judges.


This is an appeal from an order denying a petition for a declaratory judgment. Appellant is imprisoned in the Lorton Reformatory under the judgment and sentence of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. He complains that orders made and commitments issued in connection with the judgment and sentence are void and asked the court below to so declare. We agree with the District Judge that he was without jurisdiction in the premises. If there was any irregularity in the sentence or orders under which appellant was held, and we do not intimate that there was, appellant's remedy was a motion in the sentencing court under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, not a petition for a declaratory judgment in another court. As was well said by Judge Watkins, speaking for the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia Circuit in Clark v. Memolo, 85 U.S.App.D.C. 65, 174 F.2d 978, 981, "It was the primary purpose of the [Declaratory Judgment] act, [ 28 U.S.C.A. §§ 2201, 2202] to have a declaration of rights not theretofore determined, and not to determine whether rights theretofore adjudicated have been properly adjudicated."

Affirmed.


Summaries of

Hurley v. Lindsay

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit
Oct 8, 1953
207 F.2d 410 (4th Cir. 1953)

stating that appellant's remedy was a motion in the sentencing court

Summary of this case from Grimm v. Co. Comm'rs of Wash. Co.
Case details for

Hurley v. Lindsay

Case Details

Full title:HURLEY v. LINDSAY, Superintendent of Lorton Reformatory

Court:United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit

Date published: Oct 8, 1953

Citations

207 F.2d 410 (4th Cir. 1953)

Citing Cases

Figueroa v. United States

When a federal prisoner raises an irregularity in his criminal sentence, his remedy is '"a motion in the…

Edwards v. Santander Consumer USA, Inc.

Thus, the primary purpose of the Declaratory Judgment Act is to have a declaration of rights not yet…