This doctrine is supported by the weight of authority. State v. Kranendonk, supra [ 79 Utah 239, 9 P.2d 176]; Hemby v. State, supra [ 188 Ark. 586, 67 S.W.2d 182]; Holcomb v. Holcomb, 53 Wn. 611, 102 P. 653; Snook v. Snook, 110 Wn. 310, 188 P. 502, 9 A.L.R. 262; Keck v. Keck, 219 Cal. 316, 26 P.2d 300; Schuele v. Schuele, 57 Ill. App. 189; Kemp v. Kemp, 144 La. 671, 81 So. 221; Id., 146 La. 361, 83 So. 652; Porter v. Porter, 178 Ga. 784, 174 S.E. 527; Robertson v. State, 20 Ala. App. 514, 104 So. 561; Ex parte Gunnels, 25 Ala. App. 577, 151 So. 605; Laff v. Laff, 161 Minn. 122, 200 N.W. 936; State v. Babcock [ 64 N.D. 288] 251 N.W. 849; State v. Dist. Court of 2d Judicial Dist., 37 Mont. 485, 97 P. 841, 15 Ann. Cas. 941; Ex parte Todd, 119 Cal. 57, 50 P. 1071; Allen v. Woodward, 111 Tex. 457, 239 S.W. 602, 22 A.L.R. 1253 and annotation."
The court is empowered to punish the defendant by imprisonment for willful obstinacy where it shall appear that he had the means with which to comply with the decree, but it should not imprison him where he shows that he has not the pecuniary ability to comply with the decree and is in such ill health that he cannot earn enough money to do so." Reaffirmed in Hemby v. State, 188 Ark. 586, 67 S.W.2d 182. As indicated, there was no showing here that appellant was able to pay and refused from mere contumacy. The judgment against appellant for arrearages, attorney's fee, costs, and future alimony payments of $50.00 per month will be allowed to stand, and as we said in the Harmon case above, 152 Ark. 129, 237 S.W. 1096, . . . "under our practice the defendant may be again cited for contempt if it should be shown that his disobedience to the order of the court continues and is willful or the result of fraudulent conduct in the premises on his part."
The bastardy statute did not enlarge the inherent power of the court to punish for contempt. State v. Magee Pub. Co., 29 N.M. 455, 224 P. 1028, 38 A.L.R. 142; Brown v. Hendricks, 102 Neb. 100, 165 N.W. 1075; State v. Kranendonk, 79 Utah, 239, 9 P.2d 176; Hemby v. State (Ark.) 67 S.W.2d 182, 183; Blankenburg v. Commonwealth of Mass., 272 Mass. 25, 172 N.E. 209, 73 A.L.R. 808 and annotation; Sinclair v. U.S., 279 U.S. 749, 49 S.Ct. 741, 73 L.Ed. 638, 63 A.L.R. 1258. We are constrained to hold that the trial court was without jurisdiction to punish appellant as for contempt on account of the alleged false swearing.