The Law of the Islands

Hawaii's Federal Judge Delbert E. Metzger wanted a straight yes or no: Have the Islands' civil authorities any authority or not? Last week he got a fairly straight no: for the present, Hawaii is still very much under martial law.

On Dec. 7, 1941, when Hawaii seemed ripe for invasion, the Territorial Governor thankfully handed over the reins of government to the U.S. Army. But since the worst of Hawaii's fears of invasion were over, civil authorities have been trying to get the reins back. Last March, loud public grumbling finally resulted in a proclamation which "relaxed" martial law in the Islands.

But Judge Metzger wanted the whole legal hog or none. He decided to make a test with an ancient civil weapon: the writ of habeas corpus. Two U.S. citizens of German ancestry had been held for months in an Army detention camp. Judge Metzger's writ ordered the Army to hand the prisoners over to the civil courts.

Fortnight ago a persistent deputy marshal began stalking the Military Governor with a summons. Finally, after five days of hare-&-hounds, jaunty Lieut. General Robert Charlwood Richardson Jr. accepted service. When he failed to show up in Judge Metzger's court, he was fined $5,000 for contempt (ignoring the writ).

"Nellie" Richardson retaliated with a curt order: hereafter anyone who applies for, issues, serves, or accepts a plea for a writ of habeas corpus will be subject to a $5,000 fine, five years in jail, or both. This "anyone" obviously meant only one man: Judge Metzger, who was also warned to drop the contempt case forthwith.

Legal hairsplitters were placing no bets on Judge Metzger and Hawaii's civil authorities. Historically, habeas corpus has generally been martial law's first casualty.

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