277 Pa. 41 | Pa. | 1923
Opinion by
That an appeal will lie in contempt proceedings in certain civil actions has been definitely decided by this court in an opinion by Mr. Justice Simpson in Scranton v. Peoples Coal Co., 274 Pa. 63. The denial of this relief, necessary to the enforcement of a decree, is tantamount to a denial of the decree. This case presents one of the few instances where litigants have been permitted to be guilty of a contemptuous refusal to obey a final decree of a court, — made after full hearing in the exercise of complete jurisdiction over the subject-matter and persons concerned in the litigation.
The difficulty first arose from a division among the members of a fraternal organization, the Loyal Orange Institution of the United States of America. It occurred in 1913. An action was instituted in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, affirmed by the Superior Court (Dunlap v. Harbinson, 66 Pa. Superior Ct. 564), wherein it was held the appellants in the present proceeding were the rightful officers to exercise the powers and duties of the State Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. This determination was reached after a complete investigation, and was declared to be in conformity with the constitution and by-laws of the order, both state and national. The finding of the court in that case fully adjudicated the rights of the parties. Following that case, a second action was instituted in Philadelphia County
Notwithstanding the decree thus entered, affirmed here 269 Pa. 564, defendants refused to obey, compelling plaintiffs to petition for an attachment. See Patterson v. Wyoming Valley District Council, 31 Pa. Superior Ct. 112. Though hearings were had, defendants still did not comply with the decree in respect to many of its terms, and, June. 1, 1921, the court ordered the attachment to issue against all of these respondents. The attachment did not go forth, however, because of repeated assurances to plaintiffs and the court, by and on behalf of these respondents, that the decree would be complied with.
In utter disregard of the then existing orders, and staying their execution, on May 8, 1922, a second appeal was taken to this court from an order discharging a
In the last appeal (274 Pa. 302) we reiterated the effect of the final decree, the violation of which was in substance the complaint lodged before the court below in the present contempt proceeding. We there concluded our opinion by saying that the conduct of the defendants was “without respect for the decree of the court as originally made. Extreme leniency seems to have been exercised in forcing obedience to that decree, and, if complainants are to receive full credit for the order made, the decree should be enforced in the manner directed by law. The orders and decrees of courts of law, made after full hearing, should not be permitted to be trifled with in the manner appearing in this case.” An
Defendants, with others dissatisfied with the state authority, organized themselves into various local lodges conducted under the same national authority as prevails for the lawful state order. County lodges were organized, to whom these local bodies were obedient, acknowledging direct allegiance, — the county lodges, in turn, being directly under the National Loyal Orange Institution of the United States. Names of the local orders were slightly changed by merely striking out an immaterial part, leaving the balance substantially as it was before the decree was made; for instance, in the “Star Spangled Banner Lodge No. 65 of the Loyal Orange Institution of the United States of America,” the words “Star Spangled Banner” were omitted, and the lodge was called “Universal Lodge No. 65 of the Loyal Orange Institution of the United States of America.” Almost everything done by these defendants was apparently a studied
To set at naught decrees of a court without injury resulting therefrom might, in exceptional cases, be condoned, but to set at defiance those decrees where property and individual rights are solemnly finally adjudicated, and to raise impediments to frustrate the execution of these decrees, is without a semblance of justification. If any court permits such contempts to go unpunished, it might as well close its doors, proclaim itself incapable of functioning, and become itself contemptible. We have not at all reached this stage; the court below is not without power to vindicate its own decrees and to punish for disobedience. Nor will we, for reasons unknown, permit lower courts to refuse, without cause, to enforce its decrees, where such refusal works a palpable abuse of discretion, as it does in this case.
These appellants were entitled to relief. The defendants could not continue their affairs in Pennsylvania under the Loyal Orange Lodge of the Loyal Orange Institution of the United States any more than another foreign body could justifiably claim it was the lawful authority. By being in harmony with the state lodge, they could contest in a legal way and through proper channels, but, outside of it, they have no standing in Pennsylvania under any subterfuge created by themselves or the national body. As long as they remained within the fold they could be a warring faction, keeping within its laws; when they left, as they did by erecting hostile lodges in defiance of state authority and the court’s order, they surrendered their rights under the same laws.
The order of the court below is reversed, the defendants are adjudged to be in contempt and the record is remitted with directions to enter an order that an attachment issue against them requiring each of them to