Bonnell v. Allen

53 Ind. 130
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedMay 15, 1876
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 53 Ind. 130 (Bonnell v. Allen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bonnell v. Allen, 53 Ind. 130 (Ind. 1876).

Opinion

Biddle, J.

The appellee filed a bill in equity, charging that the appellant was occupying a certain tract of land, as the tenant of appellee; that during such occupancy, a large amount of manure was made upon said land, in the ordinary way, from the consumption of the products of said land; that the appellant had removed a part of said manure, and was proceeding to and would remove the residue; that such removal would be of great and irreparable damage and injury to him, for which he would have no adequate remedy at law; and praying that appellant be compelled to account for the manure removed, and that judgment be rendered against him for its value, and that he be restrained and enjoined from removing the residue of said manure. A prayer for a temporary injunction was added.

The lease under which the tenancy existed was made an exhibit to the complaint. A temporary restraining order was granted until the further order of the court.

At the ensuing term, the appellant filed a demurrer to the complaint, which was overruled by the court, to which the appellant excepted, and filed his answer, in which he admits ted the tenancy, the removal of part of the manure and the intention of removing the residue, but says that the manure was made from food purchased by him and fed to his own [132]*132stock; that he occupied and used the premises as a dairy, and not as an agricultural farm, and that he used thereon all the manure that was necessary or proper. To this answer a demurrer was filed by the appellee and overruled by the court, to which the appellee excepted, and filed his reply in two paragraphs, the first a general denial, and the second alleging that the manure was made partly from the products and partly from food purchased. The cause was submitted to the court for trial, which found for the plaintiff, that he was entitled to recover the sum of forty-five dollars, and that the injunction be made perpetual. The appellant excepted and moved for a new trial, which was overruled, and exception was taken, and judgment was rendered in accordance with the finding.

The first error assigned is overruling the demurrer to the complaint.

It is contended by the appellant, that when it does not appear from the allegations of the complaint that there is no remedy at law, or that it is inadequate, or that the complainant is entitled to more speedy relief than can be obtained by the ordinary process of the courts of law, an injunction will be denied. Mullen v. Jennings, 1 Stock. 192; Hart v. Marshall, 4 Minn. 294. When complainant’s equity is based upon a claim for unliquidated damages for a substantive injury, for which ample remedy exists at law, and there is no impediment to bringing the action in a legal forum, an injunction will not be granted. High on Inj. 21. In fact, this rule is so well established, that it does not need to be sustained by citation of authorities or by elaboration of argument.

The mere averment in a complaint that the party has no adequate remedy at law, and without the aid of a court of chancery he would suffer irreparable injury and damage, is not enough to authorize the interference of such a court. The facts stated in the complaint must show that the interposition of the court is necessary for the full and complete protection of the party, and that in the law courts he cannot [133]*133have all the redress to which he is entitled. High on Inj., sec. 35.

“ The complaint in this record shows no such facts. At the most, it simply avers a state of facts which would entitle the plaintiff to his action at law for damages for the conversion of his property by the defendant to his own use. There is no averment of the insolvency of the defendant, nor of any other fact which tends to show that if the plaintiff had brought his action for the value of the manure removed, he could not have been amply compensated, nor that it would not have been the same with reference to any of the manure which might be subsequently carried off by the defendant.

“ Equity will not restrain waste except where it appears that the injury sought to be restrained will be destructive of the estate of inheritance or productive of irreparable mischief, nor where it is susceptible of perfect pecuniary compensation, and for which satisfaction in damages may be had at law. High on Inj., sec. 421.”

This argument is well presented, but we are not convinced that the present case is brought within its meaning. The constitution of Indiana, article 1, section 12, 1 G. & H. 29, declares, that “justice shall be administered freely, and without purchase; completely, and without denial; speedily, and without delay.” And the first section of our code of procedure enacts, “that the distinction between actions at law and suits in equity and the forms of all such actions and suits heretofore existing are abolished, and there shall be in this State, hereafter, but one form of action for the enforcement or protection of private rights, and the redress of private wrongs, which shall be denominated a civil action.” 2 G. & H. 33. We no longer have courts of law and courts of equity. All our courts are courts of law and equity. We do not send a party to a court of law to establish his right in certain cases before he can resort to a court of equity. Whatever judgment he is entitled to upon the case made, he will receive, whether it be at law or in equity. The mode of procedure is the same in all civil cases. This relieves us [134]*134from much of the old technical embarrassment which originally surrounded equity in its struggles to aid law and enforce justice. Although the rule of law and the rule in equity must forever remain distinct from each other, because they are inherently different, yet they may now be administered together in the same court, in the same action, and at the same time. But there were many cases before the enactment of our code, where equity, when it once obtained jurisdiction of its own right, retained the case and granted full relief, although a portion of the redress might have been obtained in a court of law; and we think the case before us is one of that kind. The court had jurisdiction to grant the injunction, and undoubted power to grant full relief for any wrong the complainant had suffered before he made ,his application.

The first case we can conveniently find in support of this view is Pulteney v. Shelton, 5 Ves. 147, where an injunction was allowed against carrying away from the premises dung, soil, etc. In the case of Onslow v.-, 16 Ves. 173, a similar ruling was held, enjoining the tenant from removing the crops, manure, etc. In the United States v. Gear, 3 How. U. S. 120, digging lead ore from the lead mines upon the public lands was restrained by injunction. An injunction will lie to prevent a threatened trespass upon lands, “ to quarry and remove asphaltum therefrom.” More v. Massini, 32 Cal. 590.

As early as 1785, Lord Byron was enjoined from interfering with the natural flow of the stream from the “ pieces of water” in his park to a certain mill, without having been first sued at law. Robinson v. Lord Byron, 1 Bro. C. C. 588.

In the year 1802, Lord Chancellor Eldon said: “The law as to injunctions has changed very much; and lately they have been granted much more liberally than formerly they were. Formerly, when legal rights were set up to the extent, in which they are set up in this case, the court were very tender in granting injunctions.

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Bluebook (online)
53 Ind. 130, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bonnell-v-allen-ind-1876.