State v. Sieber

88 P. 313, 49 Or. 1, 1907 Ore. LEXIS 73
Oregon Supreme Court·Decided January 12, 1907·Published·Cited by 18 cases

Opinion

Mr. Justice Moore

delivered the opinion of the court.

[3] This is a contempt proceeding instituted in the circuit court for Baker County by the State of Oregon on the relation of Baker Lodge No. 47, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, a corporation^Baker City Lodge No. 25, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, a corporation; W. J. Patterson and F. W. Eppinger, partners as Patterson & Eppinger; and I. M. Welch, E. M. Welch, F. B. Welch, and C. R. Welch, partners as Welch & Co., against J. R. Sieber for an alleged violation of an injunction. The affidavit of the relator Patterson, on which the proceedings are based, was filed May 26, 1906, and states, in effect, that prior thereto a suit was commenced in the court named by the relators against Sieber and others, and, a preliminary injunction having been issued therein, Sieber was commanded not to interfere with the flow of 150 inches of water, miners’ measurement, in a ditch from Sutton Creek to a cemetery owned by the relators, or to place any obstruction in that stream which would prevent the quantity of water specified from reaching the head of the ditch mentioned, a copy of which restraining order was served on him; that-the injunction has never been set aside or modified, but, in violation thereof, Sieber unlawfully constructed in the creek two dams whereby the water was prevented from flowing to the head of such ditch, at a time when it was needed by the relators for irrigation. An order was thereupon made that a warrant be issued for Sieber’s arrest, in pursuance of which he was apprehended and taken before the court, which denied a motion to dismiss the proceedings and overruled a demurrer to the affidavit. A plea of not guilty having been interposed, a trial was had resulting in a judgment imposing on Sieber a fine of $50, and he appeals.

1. W. J. Patterson, as a witness for the relators, was permitted, over objection and exception, to state that Sieber, in violation of the injunction, had cut their ditch and turned water flowing therein upon a garden on his premises. It is maintained by defendant’s counsel that, as the charge in the affidavit was the construction of two dams in Sutton Creek, whereby the water of that stream, to the extent of the alleged appropriation, [4] was prevented from flowing to the head of the cemetery ditch, an error was committed in admitting such testimony. It is argued by relators’ counsel, however, that a court will take judicial notice of its own orders, made in a suit out of which the contempt arose, and, as the affidavit, which is not a “pleading” within the ordinary sense of that term, stated facts sufficient to confer jurisdiction, the testimony so objected to was admissible. It was formerly held by this court that an affidavit initiating a contempt proceeding for violating an order of court was not' regarded as a pleading within the ordinary rules governing the construction of formal allegations of the parties of their respective claims and defenses: State ex rel. v. McKinnon, 8 Or. 487. In that case the affidavit was made on information and belief, but no objection seems to have been made thereto on that ground. In State ex rel. v. Conn, 37 Or. 596 (62 Pac. 289), it was ruled that an affidavit made on information and belief was insufficient to confer jurisdiction of a constructive contempt. It will thus be seen that a stricter rule than that which formerly obtained as to stating the facts constituting a contempt has been adopted. Our statute regulating the practice in cases of this kind provides that, when the offense is not committed in the immediate view and presence of the court, “before any proceedings can be taken therein, the facts constituting the contempt must be shown by an affidavit presented to the court”: B. & C.' Comp. § 665. As a violation of an injunction is 'a criminal contempt, the proceedings to punish a party accused thereof must be strictly pursued (4 Enc. PI. & Pr. 770), and, in all cases of constructive contempt, the initiatory affidavit must state facts sufficient to constitute a prima facie ease: 4 Enc. PL & Pr. § 780.

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State v. Sieber, 88 P. 313, 49 Or. 1, 1907 Ore. LEXIS 73 (Or. 1907).

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