This was an application by petition of complainants in an injunction bill, to attach the defendant for contempt for the violation of a restraining order of the judge acting as chan
1. The demurrer to the petition was properly overruled. The injunction had been served on the defendant, and he knew the terms of it. It was alleged in the petition that the defendant had violated the injunction by collecting a large amount of assets belonging to the estate of Tanner, and con
2. The motion for a continuance was properly overruled on the grounds stated therefor. The defendant was called on to show cause why he should not be attached and punished for contempt in violating the injunction, and he was served with the rule to show cause eight days before the time appointed for the hearing thereof. The grounds for continuance were, that the defendant did not know what acts of wrong were charged’ against him, and was taken by surprise by the evidence taken ex parte by the complainants against him. The defendant was notified by the rule nisi served upon him what was the wrong charged against him, to-wit: the violation of the injunction which had been served upon him by the collection of a large amount of the assets belonging to the estate of Tanner, and converting the same to his own use, and therefore he could not have been surprised when the complainants, on whom the burden of proof rested, offered evidence to sustain that charge; the violation of the injunction was the wrong charged against him, and that was the charge he was called upon to answer; that was the charge which the complainants were bound to establish by competent evidence, and which they did establish to the satisfaction of the chaucellor, and what the witnesses knew in relation to his violation of the injunction must have been known to the defendant himself. When the injunction was served on the defendant, it was his
3. It is possible that the defendant may have thought that the restraining order was not binding upon him until the permanent injunction was granted on the hearing therefor, as he says he had no intention to violate it, but the law is, that when an order restraining the party complained ot, is granted until the hearing, or the further order of the court, such restraining order shall have all the force of an injunction until rescinded, or modified by the court: Code 3211. Every decree or order of a court of equity, may be enforced by attachment against the person for contempt. Injunctions may also be enforced by attachment: Code secs. 4216, 4218. In this case, after hearing the complainants’ evidence as to the violation of the injunction, the presiding judge, acting as chancellor, allowed the defendant to explain that evidence by his answer so far as he was able to do so, but that explanation only went to show that the collecting of the assets of the estate by the defendant, after the service of the injunction, was mainly for the purpose of securing his individual claims against Tanner’s estate, which he could not lawfully have done without violating the injunction. Whatever claims he might have had against the estate could only be paid according to the dignity thereof, by the decree of the court marshaling the assets of the estate, and not by an appropriation of the assets of the estate by the defendant himself in payment of his own claims, in violation of the injunction, whatever may be the justice or the dignity thereof. The chancellor ordered the defendant to be attached and imprisoned until he paid over to the receiver the $700 00 which the evidence before him showed the defendant had collected or received from the assets of the estate, after the injunction had been served upon him, and until he paid $25 00 for contempt of the order granting the injunction, and the costs. It was said on the argument, that this order of the judge was harsh and oppressive to the defendant; the way of the transgressors is always hard. When the defendant took the responsibility of violat
4. The judges of the superior courts in this state, in the exercise of the chancery jurisdiction conferred by the laws thereof, must necessarily be allowed a large discretion in granting and enforcing obedience to the orders and processes which they are authorized and required to issue, and this court will not interfere to control that discretion, unless it has been grossly abused. This court lias no original jurisdiction to grant or dissolve injunctions, or to exercise its discretion in the enforcement of orders in relation thereto ; that jurisdiction and discretion is vested in the judges of the superior courts, and it is to be exercised by them, subject only to be reviewed by this court when the laws of the land, or the principles of equity, have been violated in the exercise of that discretion.
5. It is within the discretion of the chancellor in this, as well as other cases, to rescind or modify his order at any time, upon sufficient cause therefor being shown, or as the exigencies of the case may require. It is one of the first and imperative duties of the citizen, to obey all lawful orders and judgments of the regular constituted tribunals of the state, and it is also the correlative duty of the judicial officers of the
Let the judgment of the court below be affirmed.