In re Cohen

Citations

• 5 Cal. 494

Syllabus

<p>The judgments and orders of Courts or Judges on the subject of contempts, are by our statutes declared to be final and conclusive. Under the writ of Habeas Corpus, this Court cannot review the orders of another Court in such cases.</p> <p>The District Courts have jurisdiction to punish for contempts of their process, and to issue such writs as are necessary to the exercise of that jurisdiction.</p> <p>Contempt is defined by the statute to be the disobedience or resistance of a lawful order of a Court or Judge ; and if a Court, having jurisdiction, should issue an erroneous order, it is obligatory, until reversed by an appellate Court, and a disobedience of it is a contempt.</p> <p>Courts of equity have the power to appoint receivers, and to order them to take possession of the property in controversy, whether in the immediate possession of the defendant or his agents ; and in proper cases they can also order the defendants’ agents or employees, although not parties to the record, to deliver the specific property to the receiver.</p> <p>The District Court caused the parties, C. and J., to be served with a rule to show cause why they should not be ordered to deliver certain property in their possession to the receiver, appointed in a case to which they were not parties; and in obedience to the rule, they appeared and contested the matter before the Court. Held, that when they appeared and filed their answer to this rule, the Court acquired full jurisdiction over their persons as well as the subject matter.</p>