2021 Georgia Code
Title 23 - Equity
Chapter 4 - Equity Procedure
Article 3 - Decrees
§ 23-4-37. Attachments for Contempt; Executions Against Property
Every decree or order of a superior court or the Georgia State-wide Business Court in equitable proceedings may be enforced by attachment against the person for contempt. Decrees for money may be enforced by execution against the property. If a decree is partly for money and partly for the performance of a duty, the former may be enforced by execution and the latter by attachment or other process.
(Orig. Code 1863, §§ 3032, 4125; Code 1868, §§ 3044, 4157; Code 1873, §§ 3099, 4216; Code 1882, §§ 3099, 4216; Civil Code 1895, §§ 3944, 4858; Civil Code 1910, §§ 4541, 5431; Code 1933, §§ 37-123, 37-1208; Ga. L. 2019, p. 845, § 3-7/HB 239.)
The 2019 amendment, effective May 7, 2019, inserted "or the Georgia State-wide Business Court" near the beginning of the first sentence of this Code section.
Law reviews.- For article on the 2019 amendment of this Code section, see 36 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 1 (2019).
JUDICIAL DECISIONS
Every decree or order of a court may be enforced by attachment for contempt. Williams v. William L. Lampkin & Co., 53 Ga. 200 (1874).
Contempt citation as branch of original equity case.
- Where a proper citation for contempt is brought by the plaintiff in the original equity suit, it may be considered as a branch of the equity case and tried accordingly. Alred v. Celanese Corp. of Am., 205 Ga. 371, 54 S.E.2d 240 (1949).
The respondent in a citation for contempt is entitled to be apprised of the acts which he is charged with committing in violation of the injunctive order, so that he may be prepared to defend against such allegations on the hearing. Hortman v. Georgia Bd. of Dental Exmrs., 214 Ga. 560, 105 S.E.2d 732 (1958).
There is no requirement of law that a contempt petition be verified. Gore v. Gore, 217 Ga. 478, 123 S.E.2d 254 (1961).
A petition seeking to have a husband held in contempt of court for failure to pay alimony need not be verified. Brown v. Olen, 226 Ga. 492, 175 S.E.2d 838 (1970).
Injunction.
- Injunction is distinctly an equitable remedy, and a court of equity acts in personam, not in rem. It is relief which may be enforced by the court granting it by attachment against the party refusing to obey the mandates of the decree. Howard v. Warren, 206 Ga. 838, 59 S.E.2d 503 (1950).
Free speech does not protect.
- When an order of court forbidding the use of threats, violence, and intimidation for the purpose of preventing others from engaging in their employment during a labor strike is violated, the violator can find no protection under the constitutional guaranty of free speech. Lassiter v. Swift & Co., 204 Ga. 561, 50 S.E.2d 359 (1948).
Cited in Howard v. Durand, 36 Ga. 346, 91 Am. Dec. 767 (1867); Clements v. Tillman, 79 Ga. 451, 5 S.E. 194, 11 Am. St. R. 491 (1887); Robbins v. Kinman, 177 Ga. 46, 169 S.E. 304 (1933); Bank of Tupelo v. Collier, 191 Ga. 852, 14 S.E.2d 59 (1941); Poss v. Norris, 197 Ga. 513, 29 S.E.2d 705 (1944); Person v. George, 211 Ga. 18, 83 S.E.2d 593 (1954); Henderson v. State Bd. of Exmrs., 221 Ga. 536, 145 S.E.2d 559 (1965).
RESEARCH REFERENCES
C.J.S.
- 30 C.J.S., Equity, § 27. 31 C.J.S., Equity, § 612.
ALR.
- Jurisdiction, and propriety of its exercise, to require real property in another state or country to be applied in satisfaction of debt (including the setting aside of a fraudulent conveyance thereof), 144 A.L.R. 646.
Attachment statute as applicable to equity suits, 154 A.L.R. 95.
Power of equity court to reach or to sequester, for seizure and sale, beneficial equitable interests in corporate stock shares, 42 A.L.R.2d 920.
