Opinion

Brown v. Ring

  • 77 Mich. 159
  • 43 N.W. 770
  • 1889 Mich. LEXIS 723
Court
Michigan Supreme Court
Filed
Oct 25, 1889
Status
Published
Author
Sherwood
On the bench
Campbell, Champlin, Long, Morse, Sherwood
Cited by
3 cases

The opinion

Sherwood, O. J.,

(dissenting). I think the decree in this case should be affirmed. The title to the property in question was in complainants, and they had never been divested of it. They took the only course affording them an adequate remedy for the grievance complained of. If they have a remedy at law and it can only be made available through a multiplicity of suits, this fact alone is sufficient to give a court of equity jurisdiction. It is neither equitable nor just to compel these complainants to surrender their property to the control of defendants, who have neither title or right to the possession thereof, and compel complainants to resort to an action of replevin to recover it again, and subject them to the risk and hazard of its loss or destruction, or of its being carried away into a foreign jurisdiction before the writ can be made available for its recovery.

The jurisdiction of equity is preventive as well as remedial, and neither should be withheld where necessary to protect the rights of parties and no other is adequate.

The decree at the circuit should be affirmed.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

A word about cookies

We need a few to keep you signed in and the library working. The rest help us see which pages people use and where they get stuck. They stay off unless you say yes.