Commonwealth ex rel. Lieberum v. Lewis

Citations

• 253 Pa. 175
• 98 A. 31
• 1916 Pa. LEXIS 806

Syllabus

<p>Habeas corpus — Imprisonment for contempt of court — Defiance of decree in equity — Transcript of commitment order — Clerical omission — Assistance and sequestration — Acts of July 12, 1842, P. L. 889, and June 16,1886, P. L. 784, Section 24.</p> <p>1. One who asks for a release from custody under a writ of habeas corpus, must present a prima facia case entitling him to such relief, and he fails to do this where his own application, together with the commitment, shows a legal detention.</p> <p>2. Where in habeas corpus proceedings, instituted to procure the relief from custody of a defendant in an equity suit who had been imprisoned for contempt in failing to comply with a decree of the court, the transcript of the order of commitment presented to the warden, omitted the recital of the facts on which the order was based and merely contained the order of commitment, but where the petition for the writ of habeas corpus showed that relator had been adjudged guilty of contempt of court in failing to obey a decree, the nature of which appeared, so that the petition and transcript taken together showed a legal detention, the technical error in the transcript was not sufficient to entitle the relator to a release.</p> <p>Equity — Attachment—Contempt—Act of July 12,184%, P- D- 889 —June 16,1886, P. L. 784, Section 28 — Imprisonment.</p> <p>3. The Act of June 16, 1836, P. L. 784, Section 23, regulating the power of the court to issue attachments and inflict summary punishment for contempt of court, has no relation to attachment to enforce decrees in equity, where the object is not to inflict punishment but to compel the performance of such decrees.</p> <p>4. The Act of July 12, 1842, P. L. 339, abolishing imprisonment for debt, but expressly excepting from its provisions, proceedings had for contempt to enforce civil remedies, does not affect the powers of a court of equity under the Act .of 1836 to enforce decrees by attachment if necessary; the power to enforce their de