44 Conn. 393 | Conn. | 1877
Lead Opinion
This writ of error is founded upon an adjudication of a contempt in refusing obedience to a peremptory writ of mandamus. The writ of mandamus was awarded and issued by the Superior Court sitting at Hartford, in accordance with advice given by this court, after a full .hearing and argument, upon a reservation. It was directed to the New Haven & Northampton Company, a railroad corporation created by the laws of this state, of which the plaintiffs in error were directors and officers, and commanded them forthwith and thereafter to stop their regular passenger and freight trains at the dépcit at Plantsville on their railroad, for the purpose of receiving and discharging passengers and freight. Before it was served a writ of error was brought to this court to reverse the judgment by which the mandamus was awarded. The writ of mandamus was afterwards served upon the railroad corporation, and the plaintiffs were duly informed thereof, and also had due notice of the contents of the writ. But they refused to obey its mandate, on the ground that counsel had advised them that it was superseded by a writ of error. Proceedings were then had in the Superior Court against the plaintiffs in error to enforce their obedience to the writ of mandamus, and upon those proceedings they were adjudged guilty of contempt and ordered to attached and committed to the county jail in Hartford, and to.be confined and imprisoned therein till discharged by order of the court or otherwise by due process of law. It was also adjudged that they should pay the costs of the proceedings, and that unless they should forthwith and within twenty days after notice of the order was served upon them, obey the writ of mandamus and make return of the same to the court, process should issue against them. Notice having been served upon them, they brought the present writ of error to this court. And the defendant in error moves that it be struck from the docket.
This disposition of the motion of the defendant in error brings before us the proceedings in the court below and imposes upon us a delicate and important duty. In performing that duty the first question to be considered is, how are
In the second place, the proceedings upon which the judgment was rendered should not be reviewed except so far as may be necessary to determine whether the court in render-; ing the judgment acted within the sphere of its jurisdiction. Every court must of necessity possess the power to enforce obedience to its lawful orders and judgments, and punish con-tempts of all kinds against its authority. It is only when it acts without its jurisdiction that its proceedings in such cases ■ will be interfered with or questioned by a superior tribunal. The principle upon which courts proceed in such cases is
The question then arises whether the proceedings in the court below were within the jurisdiction of that court. The record shows that before those proceedings were commenced a writ'of error had been brought upon the judgment by which the writ of mandamus was awarded and was then pending in this court. And it was urged in argument by counsel for the plaintiffs in error that that writ of error was a supersedeas of the writ of mandamus and operated as a stay of all proceedings for the enforcement of that writ. If this claim is sustainable the court below had no jurisdiction of the proceedings in which the contempt was adjudicated, and its entire action, including the judgment rendered thereon, was coram non yudiee and therefore void. Kendall v. Wilkinson, 4 El. & Bl., 680. And it would follow as a necessary consequence that no obligation rested upon the plaintiffs in error or upon the corporation to which the writ of mandamus was directed, to stop their trains at Plantsville as the writ commanded;
There is no error in the judgment complained of, and it is affirmed.
In this opinion Carpenter, Pardee and Loomis, Js., concurred.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting. The writ of mandamus was originally a strictly prerogative writ, and issued only in certain clear and unquestionable cases. No pleadings were allowed and no judgment was rendered, and consequently no foundation was laid for a writ of error. But in modern practice the proceeding by mandamus has substantially lost its prerogative character. Pleadings are allowed, judgments are rendered, and writ's of error are brought to try the validity of the judgments. In Kentucky v. Dennison, 24 Howard, 66, Chief Justice Taney says, “ It is equally well settled that a mandamus in modern practice is nothing more than an action at law between the parties.” In Gilman v. Bassett, 33 Conn., 298, Judge Butler says, “ Doubtless the writ was originally a prerogative one, but it has ceased to depend upon any prerogative power, and is now regarded in much the same light as other process.” See also High on Extraordinary Legal Remedies, 8.
It must be conceded that in other proceedings at the common law a writ of error is a supersedeas of the execution of the judgment upon which it is based. It is so in England;
Now if in modern practice writs of error will lie in cases of mandamus, why should they not operate in those cases in the same manner as in other actions, and suspend the execution of the judgments they call in question, pendentibus litibus ? Certainly there is as much cause for a suspension of the execution of the judgment in this form of action as in any other. A writ of error is the same in its nature in every respect whether the judgment it calls in question was rendered in one form of action or another. If in one form of action a writ of error, ipso facto, suspends the execution of the judgment, what reason can be given why it should not do so in another ?
A distinction is attempted to be made growing out of the fact that the judgment upon which the writ of error under consideration is based, was rendered in accordance with the advice of this court given upon a reservation of the case by the Superior Court for our advice ; and it is said that, however it may be in other cases of mandamus, the execution of a judgment thus rendered should not be stayed by a writ of error. This distinction applies as much to other actions at the common law where judgments are rendered under like circumstances, as to proceedings by mandamus. The claim seems to regard it as derogatory to the dignity of this court, and as conflicting with its decision, that a writ of error should stay the execution of a judgment rendered in accordance with its advice. But this court simply advised the court below in regard to the judgment which should be rendered. It never advised that court, (and never does,) to carry the judgment, when rendered, into immediate execution, whether a writ of error should be interposed or not. It is plain therefore that a suspension of the execution of the judgment can not conflict with the advice of this court. The object of this writ of error is to take the case to the Supreme Court of the United States for final adjudication-regarding the legality of the judgment; and why, if the case be one_that_falls within
I am therefore unable to discover any substantial reason why this writ of error, or any other in cases of mandamus, should not have the same effect to suspend the execution of the judgment it calls in question, that it has in all other proceedings at the common law. In other cases at the common law it is considered unjust that the judgment should be carried into execution while process is pending to test its validity. The reason is obvious. The law gives to parties the right to review the decisions of the lower courts, and if the decisions are to be carried into effect before a review can be had the right would in many cases be worthless. Take, for instance, cases where a peremptory mandamus is issued to compel the guarantee of negotiable instruments, like the case of The New Haven, Middletown & Willimantic R. R. Co. v. The Town of Chatham, 42 Conn., 465, where the proceeding was brought to compel the town to guarantee forty thousand dollars of bonds belonging to the railroad company, what would the right of review have been worth in that case if the court below had erroneously granted the mandamus, and no stay of proceedings had been had ?
But it is said that a court would always order a stay of proceedings in cases where irreparable injury might accrue. The same might be said with equal propriety in all cases where a writ of error is unquestionably a supersedeas of the execution of the judgment, and why leave cases of this character to the discretion of the court any more than others,? In other cases the danger is that a court may err in its dis
But the court rendering a judgment has no jurisdiction over a writ of error brought to review it. Writs of error are independent proceedings. They may be brought in vacation as well as during the session of the court. They are brought directly to the higher court, and the lower court can do nothing that will interfere in any way with its operation or effect. What jurisdiction has the Superior Court over this writ of error brought directly to this court to determine whether or not the execution of the judgment upon which it is based should be suspended ? If the writ ipso facto suspended proceedings in that court, there is no power known to the law by which the suspension can be vacated during the pendency of the proceeding except that vested by statute in the judges of the Supreme Court of Errors. Gen. Statutes, p. 452. This statute recognizes the fact that a writ of error suspends the execution of the judgment it calls in question in all cases whatsoever, and is tantamount to a direct declaration to that .effect; and by necessary intendment denies the right of any court or judge except those specified to vacate the suspension.
I might cite the long practice which has been pursued in the state in relation to proceedings by mandamus. A large number of cases of this character have come before this court within a few years, by motions in error, and by writs of error, and it is believed execution of the judgments has been stayed by them without exception, and without objection by counsel. I might also refer to the practice in relation to the analogous process of quo warranto, concerning which a similar procedure has been pursued, thus tending to show a common law of our own on the subject. But I do not care to discuss the matter further. I am of the opinion that the writ of error in the case of The State v. The New Haven & Northampton Company, was a supersedeas of the execution
I think the judgment of contempt should be reversed.