GARWOOD, Justice.
By this original habeas corpus proceeding, relator, Joe Douglas Prickett, whom we have enlarged on bond pending final decision,
Following the divorce decree (entered April 3, 1958) and evidently as a part of the divorce proceeding, relator's divorced wife, by sworn written application of August 4, 1958, prayed the court to enforce her decreed right to the stock by "such special process or writ as may be necessary for the seizure and delivery of such property to the applicant—, and if necessary, to enforce its judgment by attachment, fine, or imprisonment, all as provided in Rule No. 308, Vernon's Annotated Texas Rules of Civil Procedure." On the same day the court issued its order, copied in the footnote
As appears from the foregoing, the entire proceeding rested on Rule 308, Tex.R.Civ. Proc., which provides:
Without undertaking to spell out what the term, "especial value to the plaintiff", does mean, it obviously does not refer to the fact of the financial or economic status of the plaintiff being unusually bad, or her needs being correspondingly pressing (as no doubt they actually were, since she had custody of the two very young children of the marriage). The latter sense is the only sense in which the term "especial value" could have any conceivable connection with the ownership by a person such as Mrs. Prickett of a few shares in a large business corporation, which are regularly traded on a national market. Were there the least doubt about this, it would be dispelled by the terms of the contempt decree itself, which, with the evident agreement of the wife, gave the relator the option of paying her $3,200, which was obviously no more nor less than the ordinary or market value of the stock in terms of money.
The corresponding portion of Rule 308, supra, was, therefore, without application; and accordingly, the court, however understandable its motive to expedite relief for the wife under the circumstances, was without authority to "award a special writ for the * * * delivery of such property to the plaintiff" or to "enforce its judgment by attachment, fine and imprisonment."
The relator is discharged and his sureties released from liability on his bond.
FootNotes
"On this the 4th day of August, 1958, came on to be considered the affidavit and application of Barbara Prickett seeking appropriate writ for the delivery and possession of 49 shares of Humble Oil & Refining Company stock, Certificates Nos. TO159672 for 2 shares; TO159680 for 27 shares; TO141336 for 7 shares; TO145986 for 3 shares; TO153632 for 10 shares; so as to enforce the judgment of this court in the above entitled and numbered cause whereby such shares of stock became the property of Barbara Prickett; and if necessary, to enforce its judgment by attachment, fine, or imprisonment; and the court being of the opinion that the affidavit states grounds therefor, it is Ordered that the said Joe Douglas Prickett show cause before this court at the Courthouse in the City of Rusk in the County of Cherokee in the State of Texas on the 23rd day of August, 1958, at 10:00 A.M., in the District Courtroom why appropriate writ should not be issued for the possession of said stock as well as why such decree should not be enforced by attachment, fine, or imprisonment to compel the delivery of such property to Barbara Prickett. It is further Ordered that scire facias issue commanding that the said Joe Douglas Prickett be summoned to appear at the time and place and to the end above stated and that the same be accompanied by a certified copy of said affidavit and certified copy of this order to be delivered to the said Joe Douglas Prickett together with a copy of such writ of scire facias.
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