CONSTITUTIONAL LAW - POWER OF STATE LEGISLATURE TO PROVIDE FOR JURY TRIAL IN PROCEEDINGS FOR CONTEMPT OF COURT

Authors

Abstract

The defendants, an independent union, and members thereof, were cited for contempt before a court of common pleas for the violation of an in junction restraining them from interfering with the operation of the plaintiff's mines. The alleged contumacious acts took place some ten miles from the court house and consisted of gathering about automobiles containing employees of the plaintiff company, throwing stones at them, breaking windows of the cars, and injuring some of the occupants. The contempt proceedings arose on petition of the company and were before the same judge who granted the injunction. The defendants claimed that under a Pennsylvania statute they were entitled to bail and jury trial, but the court found the statute unconstitutional and ad judged them guilty of contempt. The Superior Court reversed the holding, and the plaintiff appealed to the state supreme court. Held, that the state constitution authorizes the legislature to regulate the chancery powers of the courts of common pleas, and the statute is "clearly constitutional." Penn Anthracite Mining Co. v. Anthracite Miners, (Pa. 1935) 178 A. 291.

Recommended Citation

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW - POWER OF STATE LEGISLATURE TO PROVIDE FOR JURY TRIAL IN PROCEEDINGS FOR CONTEMPT OF COURT, 34 Mich. L. Rev. 123 (1935).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol34/iss1/15