Court Opinion

ID: 9721183
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 08:50:31.764521+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:23.827111
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Dairy, dissenting: Apart from the fact that I see no present justification for departing from the views expressed in People ex rel. Shepardson v. Universal Chiropractors’ Association, 302 Ill. 228, I am further unable to concur in the court’s opinion for the reason that it does violence to the basic concept that equity will not entertain jurisdiction where there is a complete and adequate remedy at law. (See: 7 I.L.P., Chancery, sec. 31; 13 Ill. Digest, Equity, sec. 43.) Plaintiffs’ complaint admits that the Medical Practice Act, (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1955, chap. 91, par. 16j,) provides criminal fines and penalties for practice without a license, and admits that such remedies have been and are available to them as a means of stifling the competition of which they complain. As justification for not pursuing the legal remedy which was designed to' protect both the public and the licensed practitioner, plaintiffs allege only that their efforts to procure criminal prosecution have been unsuccessful. There is no allegation either that the legal remedy is incomplete or inadequate. As I see it, therefore, a court of equity should not undertake to enforce the penal laws by which the legislature intended that unlicensed practice would be controlled, by so tenuous an allegation of the adequacy and effectiveness of the legal remedy. I would affirm the judgment of the Appellate Court in all respects.