Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 5.djvu/925

IN BE AH LEE. 913 �more, 14 Wis. 164; The State v. Bloom, 17 Wis. 521 ; in ail of which it appears that au unconstitutional statuts was held suffioient to give color of right or authority to an appoint- ment to a judicial office, and the acts of such appointees, while in office thereunder, were held valid. �No decision of the supreme court of this state upon the question bas been cited, and I am not advised that any exists. �Tbus it will be seen that the almost unbroken current of authority is against the claim made for the petitioner, that no one can be an officer de facto under a void law or an illegal appointment ; and, admitting that the judges who tried and heard the action against the petitioner in the state courts were appointed judges of tbose courts under an unconstitu- tional aet, yet they were at the least sucb judges under color of right and authority, and therefore they were and are judges de facto, and their acts are valid and binding as to third persons. �Color of title to an office is analogous to color of title to land. The latter does not mean a good title, or even a de- fective conveyance from one having title, but only the appear- ance of title ; that is, a deed to the premises in due f orm of law. Stark v. Starr, 1 Sawy. 20, �In conclusion, it appearing that the petitioner bas been convicted of the ofifence charged against him in a court hav- ing jurisdiction of the subject-matter and the person, held by at least a de facto judge, be is not, so far as this court can inquire, restrained of bis liberty or adjudged to lose bis life without due process of law, and therefore the petition for th» writ is denied. ���V.5,no.l0— 58 ����