Case Name: Diamond, Appellant, v. Diamond
Court: Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Jurisdiction: Pennsylvania
Decision Date: 1953-02-13
Citations: 372 Pa. 562
Docket Number: Appeal, No. 233
Parties: Diamond, Appellant, v. Diamond.
Judges: Before Stern, C. J., Stearns, Bell, Chidsey and Arnold, JJ.
Reporter: Pennsylvania State Reports
Volume: 372
Pages: 562–563

Head Matter:
Diamond, Appellant, v. Diamond.
Argued January 8, 1953.
Before Stern, C. J., Stearns, Bell, Chidsey and Arnold, JJ.
Harry B. Bach, with him Bach & Levy, for appellant.
Henry W. Mawmin, with him Daniel L. Quinlan, Jr., Myron Jacoby and Jacoby & Mawmin, for appellees.
February 13, 1953:

Opinion:
Opinion bx
Ms. Justice Arnold,
On preliminary objections the court below dismissed the plaintiff's bill in equity and she appeals.
At the instance of the wife the bill, in plain language, seeks to enjoin her husband, Leonard Diamond, from committing adultery with Gussie Stein, and also to restrain Dorothy Lerner, who is alleged to have been an aider and abettor of the principal defendant's acts.
While it may be convenient to restrain the errant spouse, nevertheless it is without authority under the law of Pennsylvania.
In the first place, equity will not enjoin the commission of a crime: Commonwealth v. Smith, 266 Pa. 511, 109 A. 786, 9 A.L.E. 922. In the second place, courts of equity in Pennsylvania are concerned only where property rights are involved. See Heasley v. Operative Plasterers & Cement Finishers International Association, Local No. 31, 324 Pa. 257, 188 A. 206; Kenneck v. Pennock, 305 Pa. 288, 157 A. 613; Ashinsky v. Levenson, 256 Pa. 14, 100 A. 491.
The order of the court below sustaining preliminary objections and dismissing the bill, is affirmed; appellant to pay the costs.