Court Opinion

ID: 9883055
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-06 01:36:05.610121+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:48:20.855393
License: Public Domain

*223Me. Chief Justice Waite,
dissenting.
I am not prepared to decide that an officer of a municipal government cannot, under any circumstances, apply to a court of chancery to restrain the municipal authorities from proceeding to remove him from his office without the authority .of law. There may be cases, in my opinion, when the tardy remedies of quo warranto, certiorari, and other like- writs will be entirely inadequate. I can easily conceive of circumstances, under which a removal, even for a short period, would be productive of irremediable mischief. Such cases may rarely occur, and the propriety of such- an application may not often be seen; but if one can arise, and if the exercise of the jurisdiction can ever be proper, the proceedings of the court in due course upon a bill filed for such relief will not be void, even though the grounds on which it is asked may be insufficient. If the court can take jurisdiction of such a case under any circumstances, it certainly must be permitted to inquire, when a bill of that character is filed, whether the case is one that entitles the party to the relief he asks, and, if necessary to prevent wrong in the mean time, to issue in its discretion a .temporary restraining order for that purpose. Such an order will not be void, even though it may be found on examination to have been improvidently issued. While in force it must be obeyed, and the court will not be without jurisdiction to punish for its contempt. Such, in my opinion, was this case, and I, therefore, dissent from the judgment which has been ordered.