In Re O'Connell

The petitioner, Daniel O’Connell, by virtue of a writ of injunction issued in a divorce proceeding to which he was a party, was ordered excluded, during the pendency of said action, from the dwelling-house theretofore occupied by him with his wife under the marital relation, and, for violating said injunction, was adjudged guilty of contempt of court and sentenced to pay a fine and to be imprisoned. He now seeks release on habeas corpus.

The circumstances leading up to the contempt proceedings are as follows: On June 2, 1923, petitioner, upon his cross-complaint, obtained an interlocutory judgment of divorce from Mrs. O’Connell, whereby the property in question was assigned to him as his sole and separate property. Later, by a decree in equity, rendered in a suit commenced by Mrs. O’Connell in June, 1925, said interlocutory judgment was annulled, upon the ground that said interlocutory judgment had been obtained through extrinsic fraud. Thereupon Mrs. O’Connell, upon notice to petitioner, applied for and was granted, in the divorce proceeding, said writ of injunction, enjoining petitioner, during the pendency of said action, “from entering the dwelling-house now occupied by the…