114976 A BILL TO AMEND THE JUDICIAL CODE AND TO DEFINE SITTING IN EQUITY, AND FOR APRIL 22, 1930 Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary UNITED STATES WASHINGTON: 1930 Copy a N COMPSIESSIONAL AGARINGS, PRINTS AND REPORTS DEFINING AND LIMITING THE JURISDICTION OF COURTS SITTING IN EQUITY TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 1930 UNITED STATES SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, Washington, D. C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:30 o'clock a. m., in the committee room, Capitol, Senator George W. Norris, chairman, presiding. Present: Senator Norris. The subcommittee had under consideration S. 2497, which is here printed in full, as follows (the referred bill in brackets, proposed substitute in italics): [S. 2497, Seventy-first Congress, second session] A BILL To amend the Judicial Code and to define and limit the jurisdiction of courts sitting in equity, and for other purposes Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, [That chapter 2 of an act entitled 'An act to codify, revise, and amend the laws relating to the judiciary," approved March 3, 1911, be amended by adding thereto the following: 66 "SEC. 28. Equity courts shall have jurisdiction to protect property against irreparable injury arising from definite destructive action, when there is no remedy at law; for the purpose of determining such jurisdiction the expression remedy at law' shall be held to be any remedy, criminal or civil, provided by legislation, and nothing shall be held to be property unless it is exclusive, tangible, and transferable; and section 4 of the antitrust act of 1890, together with all amendments thereof and all laws and parts of laws inconsistent herewith, are hereby repealed."] That no court of the United States, as herein defined, shall have jurisdiction to issue any restraining order or temporary or permanent injunction in a case involving or growing out of a labor dispute, except in strict conformity with the provisions of this act; nor shall any such restraining order or temporary or permanent injunction be issued contrary to the public policy declared in this act. Sec. 2. In the interpretation of this act and in determining the jurisdiction and authority of the courts of the United States, as such jurisdiction and authority are herein defined and limited, the public policy of the United States is hereby declared as follows: Whereas under prevailing economic conditions, developed with the aid of governmental authority for owners of property to organize in the corporate and other forms of ownership association, the individual unorganized worker is commonly helpless to exercise actual liberty of contract and to protect his freedom of labor, and thereby to obtain acceptable terms and conditions of employment, wherefore it is necessary that he have full freedom of association, self-organization, and designation of representatives of his own choosing, to negotiate the terms and conditions of his employment, and that he shall be free from the interference, restraint, or coercion of employers of labor, or their agents, in the designation of such representatives or in self-organization or in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other 1 |