132 Tenn. 663 | Tenn. | 1915
delivered the opinion of the Court.
The hill alleges, in substance, that a short time prior to November 12, 1912, complainant and defendant Mande Alexander (formerly Elkins) intermarried; that they were both minors, and are still under age -that after living together a few months they separated, the wife returning to the home of her father, defendant James P. Elkins; that there was much controversy between the respective families as to which one was to blame, and in consequence great bitterness grew np; that soon after the separation the said defendant Elkins began a crusade against the complainant for the purpose of compelling him to support his wife; that, with this view, on November 6,1913, he procured a warrant and caused complainant to be arrested under the provisions of chapter 207, Acts 1909, one purpose of which was the compelling of husbands who had deserted and failed to provide for their wives to support them; that he was, under this warrant bound over, tried and convicted in the circuit court of Bradley county, and fined $25, but the judgment was stayed, with a view to obtaining a reconciliation if possible, but no reconciliation has resulted; that he sought to have his wife return to him; that she refused to come back and live with him, yet, notwithstanding this, he sent her $10 per month for five months; that on June 3, 1914, about two months after the payments ceased, defendant Elkins procured another warrant for complainant’s arrest un-
A demurrer was filed by the defendants offering, as a legal defense to the bill, that the complainant was “not entitled to enjoin defendants from prosecuting complainant for an alleged violation of the criminal laws of the State.” This demurrer was sustained by the chancellor, and the bill dismissed.
The records of this court show that chapter 207, Acts 1909, was declared unconstitutional on July 16, 1910, on the ground that the act was in violation of section 17, art. 2, of our Constitution of 1870.
In the case of Kelly v. Conner, 122 Tenn., 339, 396, 123 S. W., 622, 25 L. R. A. (N. S.) 201, it was said: f ... “ Courts of equity have no jurisdiction to enjoin threatened criminal proceedings under a statute enacted by a State in the exercise of the police power in relation to which the legislature has complete jurisdiction, although it be charged that the statute is in
“Equity will not, as a general rule, interfere by injunction with criminal proceedings; but when a statute or municipal ordinance has once been declared illegal by a court of law of competent jurisdiction, and other prosecutions thei'eunder are begun or threatened which' will result injuriously to one in the enjoyment of his civil rights of property in which he is protected by general law, equity will interfere by injunction to restrain the same.”
The court referred to in this excerpt was not a court of last resort, and therefore we do not wish to be understood as approving the ruling in that case in its entirety. In the case before us, as already stated, the act had been declared void by our court of last resort. In Block v. Crockett, other cases are referred to in support of the proposition stated in the syllabus; but, as we understand these cases, they merely suggest, or imply, without deciding the point, that equity would interfere by injunction, in case there had been, at law, a previous decision holding the statute void. These cases are Poyer v. Des Plaines, 123 Ill., Ill, 13 N. E., 819, 5 Am. St. Rep., 494; Wallack v. Society for Reforemation of Juvenille Delinquents in City of New York, 67 N. Y., 23; West v. New York, 10 Paige (N. Y.), 539.
The authorities on the general subjó'otvmay be found collected in the cases, and the notes,' to Crighton v.
fín the case before us, the court of civil appeals affirmed the chancellor’s decree. This action, we think, was erroneous, and we accordingly direct a decree to he entered reversing the decree of the court of civil appeals, and that of the chancellor, and remanding the cause for further proceedings. ,