273 F. 683 | 3rd Cir. | 1921
After an order restraining the bankrupt from interfering with the assets of tbe estate, the bankrupt secretly went to a safe deposit box (which he had rented under a ffeti
There was no question about the facts, and in the mind of the court there seems to have been little question of the bankrupt’s guilt of a contumacious act violative of the court’s injunction. The only question before us therefore is the one we have just stated.
We are of opinion that the principles announced by the Supreme Court in Gompers v. Bucks Stove & Range Co., 221 U. S. 418, 31 Sup. Ct. 492, 55 L. Ed. 797, 34 b R. A. (N. S.) 874, extended to proceedings in bankruptcy by the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Re Kahn, 204 Fed. 581, 123 C. C. A. 107, rule this case, and that, in consequence, the sentence was unlawful.
Judged by its title, the manner in which it was instituted, the character of the relief sought, and the purpose for which the punishment was imposed, the proceeding was for civil contempt; the penalty for criminal contempt. The sentence of imprisonment wg.s not remedial in any sense. Its purpose was not to coerce the performance of an Order of the court, but to punish for past disobedience. The punishment was not compensatory to the plaintiff but, being punitive, was imposed to vindicate the court’s authority. Therefore, under the cases cited, and particularly under In re Kahn, supra, where the procedural facts were singularly similar to those in this case, we are of opinion thát the court fell into error, and that, in consequence, the order imposing the sentence complained of should be annulled, but without prejudice, in any degree, to the institution of appropriate proceedings in the District Court on the original grounds of complaint.