136 U.S. 586 (1890)
Louis B. Miller, a citizen of Ohio, was the father of Evelyn Estelle Miller, who was born on October 7, 1881.1 Miller's wife died on May 18, 1882, while the family resided in Nemaha County, Nebraska.2 Shortly before her death the child was taken to the home of her maternal grandparents, Thomas E. Burrus and Catherine Burrus, who were citizens and residents of Nebraska, and the Burruses thereafter retained physical custody of the child.3
Miller remarried and established a new household.4 Beginning in 1889 he repeatedly demanded that the Burruses return the child to him, but they refused.5 On April 17, 1889, Miller filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska before Judge Elmer S. Dundy, reciting the foregoing facts and additional allegations concerning the fitness of the Burrus household.6
The Burruses appeared and asserted that they had cared for the child since infancy, that the child was attached to them, and that they were fit custodians.7 On June 25, 1889, Judge Dundy ordered the child delivered to Miller.8 An attempted appeal to the Circuit Court was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.9 After the Burruses removed the child from Miller's possession while he was traveling through Iowa, the District Court issued a writ of attachment for contempt.10
On December 16, 1889, the District Court sentenced Thomas E. Burrus to three months' imprisonment in the county jail.11 Burrus then filed an original petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the Supreme Court of the United States, naming United States Marshal Brad. D. Slaughter as respondent.12 The marshal returned that he held Burrus pursuant to the District Court's order and judgment and attached copies of the entire District Court proceedings.13
Whether the District Court of the United States for the District of Nebraska had jurisdiction to entertain a petition for a writ of habeas corpus seeking to determine the custody of a minor child as between her father and her maternal grandparents?14
Federal courts may issue writs of habeas corpus only when the prisoner is in custody under or by color of the authority of the United States, or is committed for trial before some court of the same, or is necessary to be brought into court to testify.15 The whole subject of the domestic relations of husband and wife, parent and child, belongs to the laws of the States and not to the laws of the United States.16 As to the right to the control and possession of a child contested by its father and its grandfather, neither the Congress of the United States nor any authority of the United States has any special jurisdiction.17
No. The custody dispute between Miller and the Burruses over Evelyn Estelle Miller does not involve any claim that the child was restrained under or by virtue of any authority of the United States or that possession of the child was in violation of the Constitution or any law or treaty of the United States.18 The writ of habeas corpus may be issued by federal courts only when necessary for the exercise of their jurisdiction.19 The custody question here is governed exclusively by state law.20 Therefore the District Court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the petition or to enforce its order through contempt proceedings.21
The entire proceeding before the District Court was therefore coram non judice and void.22