Often the State courts used these Federal cases as precedents, in
disregard of the fact that there the issuance of injunctions was based
upon special statutes. In other cases the more logical course was
followed of justifying the issuance of injunctions upon grounds of
equity. But most of the acts which the courts enjoined strikers from
doing were already prohibited by the criminal laws. Hence organized
labor objected that these injunctions violated the old principle that
equity will not interfere to prevent crime. No such difficulties arose
when the issuance of injunctions was justified as a measure for the
protection of property. In the Debs case,[34] when the Supreme Court of
the United States passed upon the issuance of injunctions in labor
disputes, it had recourse to this theory.
But the theory of protection to property also presented some
difficulties. The problem was to establish the principle of irreparable
injury to the complainant's property. This was a simple matter when the
strikers were guilty of trespass, arson, or sabotage. Then they damaged
the complainant's physical property and, since they were usually men
against whom judgments are worthless, any injury they might do was
irreparable.
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