Lowe v. Prospect Hill Cemetery Ass'n

106 N.W. 429, 75 Neb. 85, 1905 Neb. LEXIS 386
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 6, 1905
DocketNo. 14,188
StatusPublished
Cited by33 cases

This text of 106 N.W. 429 (Lowe v. Prospect Hill Cemetery Ass'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lowe v. Prospect Hill Cemetery Ass'n, 106 N.W. 429, 75 Neb. 85, 1905 Neb. LEXIS 386 (Neb. 1905).

Opinion

Holcomb, C. J.

By a proceeding summary in character, on motion, the defendant association has applied for a modification or vacation of a final order of the district court for Douglas county rendered April 2, 1896, granting a perpetual injunction restraining the defendants from using a certain strip of land adjacent to Prospect Hill cemetery in Omaha, for the purposes of burial of the dead. On appeal to this court from the order of the district court allowing a perpetual injunction in the original action, the decree complained of was affirmed. Lowe v. Prospect Hill Cemetery Ass’n, 58 Neb. 94. Upon the filing of the motion to modify or vacate the order for a permanent injunction, theretofore granted, a notice or citation to show cause why the same should not be granted was issued and served on the attorney of record appearing for the plaintiffs in the original action, who appeared specially and objected to the jurisdiction of the court over the subject matter, and to its authority in such a proceeding to modify or vacate the order entered long prior thereto and after many subsequent terms had intervened, contrary to the provisions of sections 602 et seq. of the code. These objections were overruled; whereupon the plaintiff filed formal objections to the granting of the mo[88]*88tion, and traversing many of the averments of fact found therein. Upon the issue thus formed, affidavits were filed and, after a hearing to the court upon the motion and the objections thereto and the affidavits filed by the respective parties, the court sustained the motion and entered an order vacating the injunction, theretofore allowed, and denying to the plaintiffs any relief whatever. The plaintiffs appeal.

A very full and substantially accurate statement of the case, with a plat of the grounds involved in the controversy, will be found in the opinion cited, Lowe v. Prospect Hill Cemetery Ass’n, supra, and need not here be restated. The defendants, by their motion, seek to be relieved from the effect of the order granting a perpetual injunction upon the following grounds, the substance of which only is herein stated: (1) That when the decree was rendered, the ground in controversy was found by the court to be no part of the first addition to Prospect Hill cemetery, and that to use such ground for burial purposes would have been in violation of one of the ordinances of the city preventing the establishment of cemeteries within the city limits, or of enlarging those already established. It is asserted in the motion that at the present time said ground is a part of Prospect Hill cemetery, has been so recognized by the city council, and that it would not now be a violation of city ordinances to use said ground for burial purposes. (2) The motion also sets forth that at the time of the rendition of the decree the plaintiffs had wells upon their premises, which, because of the probaility of pollution of the underground waters by reason of the decomposition of dead bodies, would be a menace to the health of those using such wells; and that now there is no well on said premises subject to pollution by reason of the burial of dead bodies in said ground. (3) It is further claimed that the soil in which the interments were to be made was at that time found by the court to be such as to permit the percolation of water through said ground and into the wells of the plain[89]*89tiff, thereby endangering the health of those using the same; and that at the present time the ground is dry, compact, hard clay, and that the contour of the surface is such that it contains no water which can percolate through it. (1) The last of the grounds upon which the modification or vacation is asked is that, when the decree was rendered, there were no rules and regulations regarding the burial of the dead in such manner as to prevent the occurrence of any evil effects therefrom, but that since said time provisions have been made by ordinance for the creation of a tribunal to which is given power, and which is charged with the duty, of making all needful rules and regulations governing the burial of the dead as shall be required to fully protect the inhabitants of the city of Omaha, and all of them, from any and all evil effects that can arise from any burials made in any cemetery in the city.

1. The first contention of the plaintiffs, appellants here, is to (lie effect that the proceedings resorted to by the defendants and the order therein by the court in its vacation of the original decree are unauthorized; that the court was without power to vacate or modify its final decree at any succeeding term, except in the manner and for causes pointed out in the statutes. The question presented is an interesting one, but the objection is not, in our opinion, as grave as is contended for. The order allowing a permanent injunction which the court grants is in the exercise of its powers as a court of equity. Its allowance is predicated on the fundamental idea that the aggrieved party is without an adequate remedy at law. The constitution has clothed the district courts with the exercise of the equity powers possessed by the courts of chancery of England. These powers cannot be abridged by statute. Indeed, it has been frequently decided in this jurisdiction that the statutory methods for granting new trials, vacating and modifying judgments, decrees and final orders rendered at a prior term, do not deprive the courts of the right to exercise their general equity powers [90]*90for the relief of those whose cases do not come within the provisions of the statute. We perceive no good reason why this same right should not be exercised where a final order granting a perpetual injunction, because of the occurence of facts and conditions since its rendition, has become of no use or benefit to the one whose rights were thus protected or where it would be inequitable and against good conscience to longer enforce it. The power of the court to enforce and make effective its orders of injunction, and to punish as for contempt their violation, continues for all time. As a correlative there must also exist the power to refuse to punish for the violation of the orders, and to modify or vacate, as exigencies arising since their rendition may require. “The remedy sought was purely preventive; and, in such cases, it is perfectly well settled that a court of equity will not continue or make perpetual an injunction, after the cause upon which it was granted has been removed, and the danger of invading the rights of .the plaintiff no longer exists." Wiswell v. First Congregational Church, 14 Ohio St. 31, 42. The injunction in this case is purely preventive. It restrains the defendants from doing the prohibited acts and nothing more. It prevents a threatened injury to, and incroachment of, the rights of the plaintiffs. It is not of the nature of a decree or judgment which, when executed, has served its purpose. Its force and effect continue so long as it shall remain without modification and unvacated. Those against whom it operates can only be relieved from its binding and enforceable character by the court granting the injunction. Muller v. Henry, 5 Sawyer (U. S. C. C.), 464. We are satisfied that, where a final decree has been rendered allowing a permanent injunction, as in this case, the court granting it possesses the undoubted power to either vacate or modify when the circumstances and situation of the parties have so changed as to render such action just and equitable, and this even though the statute may not have specifically provided for the exercise of such power. The [91]

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Bluebook (online)
106 N.W. 429, 75 Neb. 85, 1905 Neb. LEXIS 386, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lowe-v-prospect-hill-cemetery-assn-neb-1905.