Norton v. Elwert

41 P. 926, 29 Or. 583, 1895 Ore. LEXIS 87
Oregon Supreme Court·Decided October 7, 1895·Published·Cited by 10 cases

Opinion

Opinion by

Mr. Justice Moore.

1. It is contended that, the defendant having erected the wall upon and being in possession of the locus in quo, a court of equity should not grant a mandatory injunction to compel the removal of the structure until the legal title to the premises occupied by it shall have been determined in an action at law, and that to grant the relief prayed for would be to substitute a suit in equity for an action in ejectment, thus depriving her of the constitutional right to a trial by jury. It is a familiar principle, which has existed since the origin of a court of chancery, that equity will not interpose its jurisdiction to try an issue where the party has a plain, adequate, and complete remedy at law; and, since the legal title to and possession of land can ordinarily be tried and recovered in a action at law, a court of equity will not, in the absence of fraud, mistake, or some other intervening equity, try the legal title to or, unless as an auxiliary relief, restore the possession of land, except in cases of disputed boundaries, partition and the assignment of dower, and in these only where the issue and relief are incidents to the principal objects of the suit: Pomeroy’s Equity Jurisprudence, § 177. While courts of equity originally declined to restrain waste or trespass, they now frequently interpose, and by temporary injunction prevent an injury to land, even [587] where the right thereto is in dispute, and the defendant is in possession claiming by an adverse title, if the threatened injury will be- productive of irreparable damage (2 Waterman on Trespass, § 1128; Bracken v. Preston, 1 Pinney, 584 (44 Am. Dec. 412); Long v. Kasebeer, 28 Kan. 226; Webster v. Cooke, 23 Kan. 637); and an injury is irreparable if of such a nature that it cannot be adequately compensated in damages, or cannot be measured by any certain pecuniary standard: Wilson v. City of Mineral Point, 39 Wis. 160. The right of a court of equity, in cases of irreparable injury, to interpose, and by temporary injunction preserve the status quo, and restrain a trespass upon land, the right to which is in dispute, until the title can be determined in an action at law, is no longer seriously controverted (Clayton v. Shoemaker, 67 Md. 216 (9 Atl. 635); Wilson v. Rockwell, 29 Fed. 674; Erhardt v. Boaro, 113 U. S. 537 (5 Sup. Ct. 565); 1 Spelling on Extraordinary Relief, § 367); and the refusal of a court to award a preliminary injunction in such cases would, in effect, be a denial of justice: Wilson v. City of Mineral Point, 39 Wis. 160. The right to grant a preliminary injunction under such circumstances being conceded, the rule, nevertheless, seems universal that where the legal title to the locus in quo is put in issue, and the jurisdiction of a court of equity is challenged, an injunction to restrain a trespass, though temporarily granted, will not be made perpetual until the legal title to the disputed premises has been tried in an action at law (1 High on Injunction, § 701; 10 Am. and Eng. Ency. of [588] Law, 799); so that, before an injunction will be made perpetual the following conditions must coexist, — first, the plaintiff’s title must be admitted or established at law; and, second, the injury complained of must be irreparable in its nature, or productive of a multiplicity of actions against different parties asserting the same right: 1 High on Injunction, § 701; 2 Beach on Injunction, § 1142; 1 Spelling on Extraordinary Belief, § 368; Hatcher v. Hampton, 7 Ga. 50; Thorn v. Sweeney, 12 Nev. 251; Poyer v. Village of Des Plaines, 123 Ill. 111 (5 Am. St. Rep. 494, 13 N. E. 819).

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Norton v. Elwert, 41 P. 926, 29 Or. 583, 1895 Ore. LEXIS 87 (Or. 1895).

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