In Re Cattell

64 N.E.2d 416, 146 Ohio St. 112, 146 Ohio St. (N.S.) 112, 32 Ohio Op. 43, 164 A.L.R. 312, 1945 Ohio LEXIS 369
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 19, 1945
Docket30330
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 64 N.E.2d 416 (In Re Cattell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Cattell, 64 N.E.2d 416, 146 Ohio St. 112, 146 Ohio St. (N.S.) 112, 32 Ohio Op. 43, 164 A.L.R. 312, 1945 Ohio LEXIS 369 (Ohio 1945).

Opinions

Turner, J.

The questions in this case have been presented piecemeal. We are here confronted with á decisive question which was not raised in or passed upon by the trial court. If this question were not such as goes to the jurisdiction of the Common Pleas Court and especially a question involving personal liberty, the judgment of the Court of Appeals would be affirmed on the questions presented to that court. Board of County Commrs. of Mercer County v. Deitsch, 94 Ohio St., 1, 113 N. E., 745. Cf. Kimball v. Kimball Bros., Inc., 143 Ohio St., 500, 56 N. E. (2d), 60; 2 Ohio Jurisprudence, 613, Section 570.

As this case involves the personal liberty of Dale L. Cattell and challenges the jurisdiction of the Common Pleas Court to grant the temporary injunction under which Cattell was found guilty of contempt, it will be necessary for us to pass upon such new question.

In the per curiam opinion of State, ex rel. Handley, Pros. Atty., v. McCall, Judge, 135 Ohio St., 63, 19 N. E. (2d), 158, this court held: “Jurisdiction of sub *117 jeet matter need not necessarily be raised in the first instance but may be raised at any time, even in the reviewing court.”

Of course, the foregoing case was referring to the jurisdiction of the courts which tried that particular case. Here we have a question of jurisdiction of a court in which the present case never pended, but what was said in that per curiam opinion is illustrative of the treatment of the question of jurisdiction, whenever and however raised. “Habeas corpus is a collateral remedy; it is independent of the legal proceeding under which the detention is sought to be justified.” 39 Corpus Juris Secundum, 426, Section 1. See, also, 20 Ohio Jurisprudence, 423, Section 3.

In the case of Johnson v. Sayre, 158 U. S., 109, 39 L. Ed., 914, 15 S. Ct., 773, it was said by Mr. Justice Gray, at page 115: “Upon an appeal from the Circuit Court of the United States in a case of habeas corpus, all questions of law or of fact, arising upon the record, including the evidence, are open to consideration.”

It is further stated in 39 Corpus Juris Secundum, 424, Section 1: “The writ of habeas corpus is the precious safeguard of personal liberty, and there is no higher duty than to maintain it unimpaired. ’ ’

In 25 American Jurisprudence, 144, Section 2, it is said: “In short, the primary, if not the only, object of habeas corpus is to determine the legality of the restraint under which a person is held.”

After the Court of Appeals rendered an opinion in this case, appellant sought and was permitted to amend his motion for new trial raising the question whether such injunction might be allowed in the beginning of an action for divorce and alimony. The motion for new trial with the amendment thereto was overruled and final judgment entered denying appellant the relief prayed for.

It was alleged in the petition for a writ of habeas *118 corpus in the instant case that the Court of Common Pleas of Allen county granted the application of plaintiff in the divorce case, “solely upon the statements of fact contained in her petition in said cause, which facts are insufficient to warrant or authorize the granting of said pretended order of injunction. And said court, or the judge thereof, in granting said pretended order of injunction, acted wholly without jurisdiction and authority of law * *

According to appellant’s brief in this court and the opinion of the Court of Appeals, the following questions were presented to the Court of Appeals in the trial of this case:

1. That such jurisdiction as the Common Pleas Court has in divorce and alimony actions is conferred by statute, Sections 11979 to 12003, inclusive, of the General Code, and is not common-law or equity, and in the exercise of such jurisdiction the Common Pleas Court is a court of special and limited jurisdiction.

2. That there is no statutory provision conferring jurisdiction on the Common Pleas Court to make the order of injunction made therein, and consequently the order of injunction, the contempt proceedings based thereon, and the order of commitment made in the contempt proceedings are void.

Appellant proceeded in the Court of Appeals upon the theory that the court must look solely to the chapter on divorce and alimony (Sections 11979 to 12003, inclusive, General Code) for the answers to the questions raised in the petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Under such theory the only injunction which a court could issue in a divorce and alimony action was under Section 11996, General Code, to prevent a party from disposing of or encumbering property so as to defeat the other party in obtaining alimony.

We cannot endorse such construction of the jurisdiction of the Common Pleas Court. When the General *119 Assembly conferred exclusive jurisdiction in divorce and alimony upon the Common Pleas Court (51 Ohio Laws, 377) the jurisdiction of the court was enlarged and not limited.

It is settled in this state that the only grounds upon which the Common Pleas Court may grant either divorce or alimony are to be found in the statutes. There may be no implied ground nor is there any equitable authority to be exercised in the granting of such divorce or alimony; but when the General Assembly augmented the powers of the Common Pleas Court it did so in the face of the settled rule of law that a grant of jurisdiction implies the necessary and usual incidental powers essential to effectuate it. (Marleau v. Marleau, 95 Ohio St., 162, 115 N. E., 1009.)

Appellant complains that Dale L. Cattell was barred from a dwelling of which he was a cotenant with his wife. We are of the opinion that the Common Pleas Court had the power to issue such injunction pendente lite. The recognition of the power of the court to do this is to be found not only in the chapter on injunction hereinafter referred to but in Section. 7998, General Code, which reads as follows:

“Neither husband nor wife has any interest in the property of the other, except as mentioned in the next preceding section, the right to dower and to remain in the mansion house after the death of either, as provided by law; and neither can be excluded from the other’s dwelling, except upon a decree or order of injunction made by a court of competent jurisdiction.” Cf. the following cases in Wright’s Report: Wilson v. Wilson, page 128; Johnston v. Johnston, 454; Leavitt v, Leavitt, 719; and the statutory law then in effect (2 Chase, 1408); Tolerton et al., Exrs., v. Williard, 30 Ohio St., 579; DeWitt v. DeWitt, 67 Ohio St., 340, 350, 66 N. E., 136.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
64 N.E.2d 416, 146 Ohio St. 112, 146 Ohio St. (N.S.) 112, 32 Ohio Op. 43, 164 A.L.R. 312, 1945 Ohio LEXIS 369, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-cattell-ohio-1945.