Paul Nartinez, age 14, of Bessemer, Ala., for his question:
WHY ARE INJUNCTIONS ISSUED?
An injunction is an order or decree in the law of equity that requires a defendant to refrain from committing a specific act, either in process or threatened. The specific act may be injurious to the plaintiff. A defendant is a person against whom a claim or charge is brought. A plaintiff is the person who brings the charge to the court.
Injunctions are granted on the usual grounds for equitable actions, namely, that no adequate remedy exists at law, and that the act complained of is causing, or will cause, irreparable damage to the plaintiff.
Injunctions are generally preventive, restraining or prohibitory in nature, but on the same grounds, they maybe granted to compel a defendant to undertake an affirmative act, such as to destroy a wall that encroaches on the property of the plaintiff.
Injunctions are generally preventive, restraining or prohibitory in nature, but on the same grounds, they may be granted to compel a defendant to undertake an affirmative act, such as to destroy a wall that encroaches on the property of the plaintiff or to restore the course of a stream that has been diverted from the plaintiff's property.
Such affirmative orders or decrees are called mandatory injunctions.
Injunctions are temporary or permanent. A permanent injunction is granted only after full hearing and adjudication of the case and it is usually so phrased as to enjoin the defendant permanently from commission of the act complained of.
When the plaintiff's right is clear, a court may on application of the plaintiff issue a temporary injunction. A full investigation can then be held.
Injunctions are employed to abate nuisances, prevent the violation of contracts, protect patent rights and stay proceedings in a court of law. Failure to obey an injunction is a contempt of court, punishable by fine, imprisonment or both.
The Clayton Act, passed by Congress in 1914, limited the use of injunctions in labor disputes and provided for jury trials in certain cases arising from the violation of such injunctions.
The first important case involving the use of an injunction is a labor dispute happened in 1894. In that year,during the strike of railroad workers in and around Chicago, a union leader named Eugene Debs and other leaders were enjoined by a United States district court from interfering in any way with the railroads entering Chicago and from inducing railway employees to leave their jobs.
After the Clayton Act in 1914, subsequent court decisions extended the use of injunctions in labor disputes. Dissatisfaction with the situation resulting from these
decisions, on the part of labor and its supporters, led to the enactment by Congress, in 1932, of the Norris La Guardia Act, which restricted the issuance by the federal courts of injunctions in labor disputes.
The Taft Hartley Act in 1947 invested the National Labor Relations Board with power to seek injunctions to delay for 80 days strikes threatening "national health and safety." Many states now have laws providing for the use of injunctions to limit picketing in labor disputes.