Court Opinion

ID: 9638849
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 15:56:18.833593+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:10:10.248586
License: Public Domain

George Eose Smith, J., concurring. This concurring opinion pertains only to the discussion that constitutes the majority opinion’s fourth subdivision, “Peaceful Picketing. ’ ’ I am unable to agree with all that is said and with all that is implied in that section of the opinion. My disagreement really goes back to the case of Lion Oil Co. v. Marsh, now followed by the majority. There it was held that picketing in violation of a contract is so unlawful and so contrary to public policy that it may be prohibited by injunction. Since my dissent was based on the belief that there had been no breach of the contract, I did not think it necessary to go farther and discuss the matter of public policy. In the case at bar, however, the appellants have in fact violated their agreement, and I concur to add what was left unsaid in the earlier case. It seems to me that the responsibility for selecting the State’s policy in a matter of this kind lies not with the courts but with the people, speaking either through their constitution or through their legislators. It is only in rare instances, usually involving a moral issue so plain as to admit of only one answer, that the judiciary should be expected to announce the State’s public policy. And even then the determination may be set aside by statute. For instance, it has long been our view that a provision in a promissory note permitting the holder to recover his attorney’s fees is contrary to public policy. That rule was changed by Act 350 of 1951, and I do not suppose that any one doubts its constitutionality. It did not, and does not, seem to me that the situation presented by the Marsh case was one calling for a judicial declaration of the State’s public policy. All that was involved was a breach of a private contract. One who violates his agreement is not usually treated as having put himself completely beyond the protection of the law. If, for example, a mortgagor should deliberately and inexcusably repudiate his obligation, a court of equity would still be scrupulously careful to afford him every safeguard permitted by law. Again, Amendment No. 1 to our present constitution, however much it may have been justified in the light of history, was nevertheless a repudiation of public debts that were technically owed. Of course, I do not condone contractual violations; but I do not think such conduct so fundamentally affects the State’s notions of right and wrong as to demand a judicial enunciation of the sovereign’s position in the matter. It must be conceded, however, that the Marsh case did lay down the State’s policy, and in today’s opinion the court reaffirms its position. Even though it is my view that this declaration should more appropriately have been embodied in a statute, there is no constitutional objection to the course taken by the majority of the court. For this reason I feel bound to recognize the Marsh case as a controlling precedent and therefore to concur in the result now reached. Even so, I should like to add a word on another point. The court seems to assume that if the picketing be shown to be in violation of contract an injunction will issue as a matter of course. That is certainly not the law. The usual remedy for breach of contract is an action at law for damages ; it is only in cases of irreparable injury that injunctive relief is appropriate. Walsh on Equity, §§ 66 and 67. Here the evidence of irreparable injury is pretty scant. The business of the appellees has not been paralyzed by the strike, for substitute workers have been employed. It is shown that in a few instances deliveries have been delayed by the picket line, and each appellee complains of being embarrassed by the picketing. But, although the preponderance of the evidence indicates rather clearly that no damage has been sustained that could not be compensated by a money judgment, this case is not to be tested by tbe weight of the testimony. At the close of the plaintiffs’ case the defendants demurred to the evidence and elected to stand on the demurrer when it was overruled. The question, therefore, is whether there is any substantial evidence of irreparable injury, Werbe v. Holt, 217 Ark. 198, 229 S. W. 2d 225, and that question must be answered in the affirmative.