Callan v. Wilson‪.‬

It is contended by the appellant that the Constitution of the United States secured to him the right to be tried by a jury, and, that right having been denied, the police court was without jurisdiction to impose a fine upon him, or to order him to be imprisoned until such fine was paid. This precise question is now, for the first time, presented for determination by this court. If the appellants position be sustained, it will follow that the statute, (Rev. Stat. Dist. Col. ? 1064,) dispensing with a petit jury, in prosecutions by information in the police court, is inapplicable to cases like the present one.