Weems v. United States

Weems v. United States
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued November 30 – December 1, 1909 Decided May 2, 1910
Full case name	Paul A. Weems v. United States
Citations	217 U.S. 349 (more) 30 S. Ct. 544; 54 L. Ed. 793; 1910 U.S. LEXIS 1966
Prior history	Error to the Supreme Court of the Philippine Islands
Holding
A sentence imposed for fraud of 15 years in prison including being chained from wrist to ankle and compelled to work at "hard and painful labor" is an unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment.
Court membership
Case opinions
Majority	McKenna, joined by Fuller, Harlan, Day
Dissent	White, joined by Holmes
Moody and Lurton took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.
Laws applied
Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution

Weems v. United States, 217 U.S. 349 (1910), was a decision of the United States Supreme Court. It is primarily notable as it pertains to the prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment. It is cited concerning the political and legal relationship between the United States and the Philippines, which at that time was considered a U.S. colony (see Philippine–American War for more information).

Paul A. Weems, plaintiff in error, was a disbursing officer of the Bureau of Coast Guard and Transportation. He was charged, in the Philippine courts, with falsifying a public and official document for the purposes of defrauding the government. He was convicted of this and sentenced to 15 years incarceration, and a fine of 4,000 Philippine pesos. The conviction and sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court of the Philippine Islands. Weems filed a demurrer to the charges, but this was overruled as well.

Weems filed a writ of error with the U.S. Supreme Court, claiming that the charges against him were improper, and his conviction should, therefore, be overruled.

The argument brought by the plaintiff contained four points, one of which was abandoned due to a mistake of fact. The abandoned point was that the record did not state that Weems was arraigned, that he issued a plea to the complaint upon his demurrer being overruled, and that he was "ordered to plead to the complaint."

The three points that the plaintiff actually argued are as follows:

Justice McKenna delivered the opinion of the court, joined by Chief Justice Fuller and Justices Harlan and Day. Justice Lurton, who had not been a member of the Court when the case had been argued, did not take part in the decision. Justice Moody was absent on account of sickness and Justice Brewer died before the opinion was delivered.