Samuel Blatchford

“ The specification of the original Scott patent stated the invention to be 'a new and improved fastening applied to a whip-socket.' The socket is described as a complete whip-socket, complete in itself without the fastening, and having in its side an opening or slot, extending nearly its whole height or length, in which slot is inserted a lever. The claim is for 'a whip-socket,' that is, a complete whip-socket, 'provided with a fastening composed of a lever, arranged or applied substantially as shown and described,' that is, inserted in the slot in the socket. ”

“ There, in a suit in equity, a circuit court of the United States imposed a fine on a defendant for obtaining, during the pendency of the suit, from a state court, an injunction against the plaintiffs as to a matter within the scope of the litigation. On appeal from the final decree, it was sought to review the order imposing the fine, but this court said that the fine was beyond its jurisdiction, and added: 'Contempt of court is a specific criminal offense. The imposition of the fine was a judgment in a criminal case. ”

“ Although the court had jurisdiction of the suit and of the parties, the order for the preliminary injunction was unwarranted as a matter of law, and the orders imposing the fines must, so far as they have not been executed, be held, under the special circumstances of this case, to be reviewable by this court, under the appeal from the final decree. ”