In Re Wilson

The petitioner was adjudged guilty of contempt of court for wilful failure to pay alimony, costs, counsel fees and for failure to deliver possession of the family home to the wife. He asserts that the court was without jurisdiction to find him in contempt for the following reasons: (1) There was no evidence of his ability to comply with the order; (2) the trial court was divested of jurisdiction of the subject matter of the order to pay alimony, suit money and attorneys’ fees by reason of an appeal to the Supreme Court from such order, filed after he was adjudged guilty of contempt but before the commitment was signed, and (3) that an execution had been levied upon the home of the parties, hence the plaintiff in the divorce action had elected her remedy and could not apply to the court to have petitioner cited for contempt.

It is essential to bear in mind that in a habeas corpus proceeding we are precluded from inquiring into the reasonableness of the order for the payment 'of alimony. We are concerned solely with the question whether the court had the jurisdiction to adjudge the petitioner guilty of contempt. The court in the instant case found as a fact that petitioner was able…