United States v. International Ass'n of Machinists

Citations

• 75 Pa. Super. 567
• 1921 Pa. Super. LEXIS 64

Syllabus

<p>Equity — Injunction—Strihes—Contempt—Inquiry by court.</p> <p>Where a decree has been granted enjoining the members of an unincorporated labor union, who were on a strike, from interfering with the plaintiff’s business by 'threats or intimidations, it is proper practice upon the violation of such decree, for the court to grant a rule on the defendants to show cause why they should not be adjudged in contempt.</p> <p>Such contempt not having been committed in the presence of the dourt. The power to ascertain the important fact, whether or not the contempt had actually been committed by a violation of the decree, resided in the court which had entered the decree.</p> <p>In order that a court may compel obedience to its orders, it must have the right to inquire whether there has been any disobedience thereof. To submit the question of disobedience to another tribunal, be it to a jury or another court, would operate to deprive the proceeding of half its efficiency. The court in which the decree was entered was the proper tribunal to ascertain and determine the fact, whether or not there had been a specific violation of it.</p> <p>The fact that the plaintiff’s property had, subsequent to the decree, passed into the hands of a receiver is immaterial, in so far as the contempt of the defendants is concerned.</p>