Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1922-07-21

realize tie court can interpret In
any manner satisfactory - Itself. be-
cause TIE wording q he injunction
has failed 20 convey the clear. direct
Implication and Interpretation Of the
language used.
1he language Of many iniunetions
resemhleS nothing 50 much Is cat
playing with mousse the cat makes
all of the rules.
One q ne strongest indictments
which has been written relative to
the abuse of the writ Of injunction
was presented by Henry Clay Cald-
well. former presiding Judge 81 the
United States Clrcust Court Of APP
peals for the eighth circuit. In part
he saids
.sl'he modern writ Of injunction is
usal for purposes which bear no more
resemblance 10 the users 81 the an
Gent writ Of that name than the
milky way bears to the sun. Former
y il was used to conserve the prop
erty in dispute between private liti-
giants, but in modern times 1t has
taken the place OF the police powers
of the State and Nation. 1t enforees
and restraints with equal facility the
criminal laws Of the State and Nation.
With 1t the judge net only restraints
and Furnishes the commission ot
crimes defined by statute, but he pro-
eeeds to frame criminal code Of his
own. as extended MS he sees proper, by
which various acts, innocent In Law
and morals. are made criminal: such
as standing. walking. or marching on
the public highway, or talking,
speaking, or preaching. and other like
acts. In proceedings fer contempt
for an alleged violation Of the in.
junction the Judge is the lawmaker
the injured party, the prosecutor, the
judge, and the jury. Ii Is not sur
prising that uniting in himself all
these characters he Is commonly able
To obtain conviction. While the
penalty which the judge can inilict by
direct sentence for a violation of his
code Is fine or Imprisonment, limited
only by his discretion, capital punish
ment may be inflicted by indirection.
All that seems TO be necessary To
this end Is to issue writ To the
marshal or sheriff commanding him
TO prevent violation of the judges
code, and then the men with injanc-
ton nooses around their necks may
be quickly dispatched II they attempt
to march across this Injunction dead
line. Ii Is said the judge does not
punish for violation of the statutory
oifense, but only for a violation of
his order prohibiting the commission
OF the statutory otrense. Such reas-
oning as this is what Carlyle calls
logical cobwebbery.' The web Is not
strong enough to deprive the smallest
insect of its liberty much less an
American citizen"
Judge Caldwell has summed up the
great evils flowing from the abuse
of equity power by calling attention
to their invasion cf constitutional
guarantees, coupled with methods by
which they have eliminated trial by
jury.
IL the only indictment against the
abuse OF the writ " injunction was
their re-cstablishmert Of Star Cham
Der methods instead. of jury trials,
this should be sufficient in itself to
warrant tho prompt action of Con-
gress and state legislatures, for no
mans liberty is safe so long as an
equity court can summon wage earn
ers before it, find them guilty and
sentence them TO prison without a
trial by jury, for an Judge Caldwell
said further on
"Jury and injunction are terms
which cancel each other.
"In proportion as the injunction is
expanded, the right of trial by jury
is restricted. And this result is not
q mere incident to the use Of the
writ; in many cases its real purpose
is to deprive party of the right of
a trial by jury.
ARMED with this powerful writ,
which has no definite boundaries or
limitations, and which may be used
at discretion, the power--the federal
chancellor--may be fairly character
lied as imperial"
Every labor injunction Is outlawed
by this brave and learned Federal
Judge.