CONTEMPT OF COURT -
Any willful disobedience to, or disregard
of, a court order or any misconduct in the presence of a court; action
that interferes with a judge's ability to administer justice or that
insults the dignity of the court; punishable by fine or imprisonment
or both. There are both civil and criminal contempts; In common law
jurisdictions, contempt of court has traditionally been classified as
either in facie curiae (in front of the court) or ex facie curiae (outside
the court), or as criminal or civil.
Criminal contempt occurs
when there is interference with or disruption of criminal or civil court
proceedings. Examples include yelling in the court room, publishing
matters which may prejudice the right to a fair trial ("trial by
media"), or criticisms of courts or judges which may undermine
public confidence in the judicial system ("scandalizing the court").
Civil contempt occurs
when a person disobeys a court order and is subject to sanctions, such
as a fine or imprisonment. The purpose of civil contempt is not only
to enforce court orders, but also to maintain public confidence in the
judicial system "since the administration of justice would be undermined
if the order of any court of law could be disregarded with impunity."
(4)
As Lord Scarman has
pointed out, the distinction between the two may have less relevance
today, but it still useful for classification purposes:
The distinction between
‘civil’ and ‘criminal’ contempt is no longer of
much importance, but it does draw attention to the difference between
on the one hand contempts such as ‘scandalizing the court’,
physically interfering with the course of justice, or publishing matters
likely to prejudice a fair trial, and on those other contempts which
arise from non-compliance with an order made, or undertaking required
in legal proceedings. (5)
When a person is in
prison for a contempt, it has been decided in New York that he cannot
be discharged by another judge when brought before him on a habeas corpus;
and it belongs exclusively to the court offended to judge of contempts
and what amounts to them; and no other court or judge can, or ought
to undertake in a collateral way, to question or review an adjudication
of a contempt made by another competent jurisdiction.
SB's
release: Not desirable to influence judiciary, says Mahanayake Thera
-Full
Story- (The Daily News - 22/12/04)
Ranil
wanted SB jailed for contempt in 2000,now he wants him freed, Why?
-Full Story-
(The Daily News - 13/12/04)
A briefing
paper on the offence of scandalizing the court
.by Zahid Ebrahim Visiting Lawyer.-Full
Story- (article19.org - 11/12/04)
Acknowledgement
Of Reported Error
Periscope-Global Sinhala Village-Full
Story- (The LankaWeb - 12/12/04)
Autobiography
of a Jailbird – by SB from Queens Hostel
Welikada.Extracted
by Walter Rajaratne in Sydney-Full
Story- (The LankaWeb - 11/12/04)
Backscratching
of the convict S.B Dissanayake by Ranil's UNP is a direct assault on
law and order.
Dr Eric Wimalaweera Sydney Australia -Full
Story- (The LankaWeb - 11/12/04)
THE
SB DRAMA-Even Comedy Smells of Tragedy
By Shyamon Jayasinghe, Melbourne Writer
-Full Story-
(The LankaWeb - 10/12/04)
Poetic
Justice Finally Served As Minister Is Indicted And Imprisoned.
Periscope - Global Sinhala Village For LankaWeb-Full
Story- (The LankaWeb - 09/12/04)
JUSTICE
HAS PREVAILED.
SARATH JAYASIRIWARDENA, MONTREAL, CANADA
-Full Story-
(The LankaWeb - 09/12/04)
to
appeal big fine for contempt
HAMILTON -- Executives at The Hamilton Spectator, stunned by hefty court
costs levied against the newspaper yesterday for a contempt-of-court
conviction, say they will appeal the decision. -Full
Story- (The Globe and Mail - 10/12/04)
'Contempt
of Court' case against Arundhati Roy
-Full Story-
(narmada - 10/12/04)
Contempt
of court is not a matter of joke: HC
The hearing of the rules issued by the High Court Division of the Supreme
Court charging two vernacular dailies, Prothom Alo and Bhorer Kagaj,
for committing contempt of Court has been adjourned yesterday till December
11. The Court issued rules on November 8 asking the Editor Matiur Rahman,
publisher Mahfuz Anam and reporters Ekramul Huq Bulbul and Masud Millat
of Prothom Alo to show cause why they should not be committed to contempt
of Court on charge of scandalising the Court through publishing reports
in connection with the appointment of Faisal Mahmud Faizee as an Additional
Judge of the High Court Division. -Full
Story- (Bangladesh News - 10/12/04)
Zimbabwean
Justice Minister Gets Jail Term
Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister of Zimbabwe Patrick
Chinamasa was on Wednesday sentenced to an effective three months in
jail for contempt of court. The minister was supposed to appear before
Justice Blackie to respond to a contempt of court charge, which arose
after he criticized a six-month jail term imposed by Justice Adam on
three Americans convicted of possession of firearms. -Full
Story- (english.people.com.cn - 10/12/04)
Thackeray
let off in contempt case
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday quashed charges of contempt of
court against Shiv Sena leader Balasaheb Thackeray, reports our legal
correspondent. A three-judge bench of Justices Y.K. Sabharwal, D.M.
Dharmadhikari and Tarun Chatterjee in a unanimous decision set aside
a Bombay High Court order of 1997 convicting Thackeray of contempt of
court for allegedly levelling bribery charges against a judge in a public
speech at Mumbai’s Shivaji Park in 1996. The judges held that the contempt
proceedings were initiated by private parties and, hence, under the
Contempt of Court Act, consent from the state advocate-general should
have been obtained before initiating the proceedings. -Full
Story- (The Telegraph - 10/12/04)
Judge
cited for contempt of court
A Caddo District Court judge who hears family law cases has been held
in contempt of court in his own divorce case. The contempt case has
been sent to a commission that investigates complaints against judges.
District Judge Woody Nesbitt was held in contempt for selling property
he owned with his ex-wife, Annette. They were married for more than
30 years before separating in December 2001. The judge assigned to hear
the acrimonious divorce case ordered the Nesbitts in 2002 not to get
rid of any community property while the two sides worked out a settlement.
-Full
Story- (ktbs - 10/12/04)
Prosecutor,
judge trade fire over sentencing
Sioux City, Ia. - A national debate over federal sentencing has taken
a confrontational turn in Iowa, where Chief U.S. District Judge Mark
Bennett recently tried to hold in contempt a prosecutor who had repeatedly
challenged Bennett's efforts to reduce prison terms. Prosecutor Kevin
Fletcher and his attorney, a former solicitor general for the U.S. Department
of Justice, responded with allegations of judicial misconduct against
Bennett, who presides over Iowa's northern judicial district. They alleged
in a recent court filing that the judge's behavior toward prosecutors
signaled "a pattern of abuse and intimidation" that merited further
review. -Full
Story- (desmoinesregister. - 10/12/04)
The
persecution of Providence reporter Jim Taricani shows why we need a
federal shield law
-Full
Story- (bostonphoenix.com - 10/12/04)
Blunkett
criticised over al-Qaeda court warning
Last year, after the arrest of a suspected terrorist in Gloucester,
Mr Blunkett made a remark which linked the man to al-Qaeda. After it
was suggested that the Home Secretary might be in contempt of court,
Lord Goldsmith, QC, the Attorney-General, had to put out a statement
in which he said that the remarks did not “create a substantial risk
of serious prejudice to any proceedings”. -Full
Story- (Times - 10/12/04)
Contempt
of Court
The material on this site is only a part of the lawindexpro material.
Lawindexpro has over 68,000 case listings and 56,500 links to full text
judgments. On this free service, cases heard before 1993, or after 1999
are not listed, and nor do we provide the links to the full text judgments.
-Full
Story- (swarb.co.uk - 11/12/04)
A briefing
paper on the offence of scandalizing the court
.by Zahid Ebrahim Visiting Lawyer.The laws of contempt are primarily
designed to balance the freedom of expression with the judiciary’s quest
to maintain its authority and safeguard public order. Broadly speaking,
contempt of court falls into three general areas: (i) violation of an
order of a court, (ii) interference in the judicial process and (iii)
criticism of a judge, his judgement, or the institution of the judiciary.
-Full Story-
(article19.org - 11/12/04)
Scandalising
the Court
by Vinod A. Bobde† Cite as : (2003) 8 SCC (Jour) 32 Scandals and scandalising
A “scandal” is a “thing or a person causing general public outrage or
indignation” and to “scandalize” someone is to “offend the moral feelings,
sensibilities etc. or to shock”1. Quite a few people behave in a scandalous
manner and many of them are men and women who hold office in the organs
of State such as the governments, legislatures or courts. Some engender
not just contempt but fury in the public mind. In 1831, Lord Chancellor
Simon de Sudbury was killed by a mob2 and the very next year Lord Chief
Justice Cavendish was tried in a mock court by the people and sentenced
to death3. King Alfred reportedly hanged forty-four judges in the 9th
century AD as “homicides” for giving false judgments.4 No wonder that
at Runnymede, by the historic Magna Carta of 1215, the King undertook
not to “sell” justice. -Full
Story- (ebc-india - 11/12/04)
Contempt
of Court - Reporter Newspaper -
Newspaper Article containing statements and articles highly scandalous
of Judges of the Supreme Court and intended to obstruct public justice
by bringing the Supreme Court and the administration of justice into
disrepute - Meaning of the word "scandalous" in contempt of court proceedings
- Necessity of reading alleged scandalous article to gather its overall
meaning - Article connoting that Judges of the Supreme Court susceptible
to political influence - Whether mens rea is a requirement of a contempt
proceedings where the allegation is that the court has been scandalous
by the publication of an article - Standard of proof necessary to prove
contempt of court - What constitutes 'publication' of an article - Appropriate
penalty. -Full
Story- (belizelaw.org - 11/12/04)
LETTER
WRITING CAMPAIGNS
Zainur Zakaria Lawyer Zainur Zakaria was summarily convicted of 'contempt
in the face of the court' on November 1998 and sentenced to 3 months
in jail. As defense counsel for former Deputy Prime Minister, Anwar
Ibrahim, he was bringing an application to have two of the prosecutors
removed from the case on the grounds that they had been involved in
attempting to fabricate evidence against Anwar Ibrahim and therefore
would be called as witnesses. In support of the application was filed
the affidavit of Anwar to which was attached the statutory declaration
of the lawyer to whom the prosecutors were alleged to have made their
proposals. Mr. Zakaria was convicted and sentenced after being given
30 minutes to apologize -Full
Story- (IRWC - 11/12/04)
IN
THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS (Case No. 31611/96) BETWEEN NIKULA
Applicant and FINLAND Respondent STATEMENT ... (PDF)
. with the offence of "scandalizing the court" arising from critical
statements made outside court, ... held that the offence of contempt.
of court by "scandalizing the court" (i.e ... -Full
Story- (interights.org - 11/12/04)
India's
goddess of small dams
NEW DELHI - Arundhati Roy, the Booker Prize-winning author in 1997 with
her debut novel, The God of Small Things, is well on her way to becoming
the goddess of small dams herself, a goddess, however, who will have
to be perpetually locked in conflicts with the gods of big things. -Full
Story- (Asian Times - 11/12/04)
The
Court’s Annual Conference was held at Peppers Fairmont Resort, Leura,
from 16 to 18 August 2002. The Honourable Margaret Marshall, Chief Justice
of the Supreme Judicial Court, Massachusetts USA, gave the keynote address
– Scandalizing the Court: Must we Muzzle the Press to Preserve our Independence?
-Full
Story- (lawlink.nsw.gov.au - 11/12/04)
Arundhati
Roy Jailed by Indian Supreme Court
Reknowned author Arundhati Roy spends a day in prison for criticizing
the Indian Supreme Court -- and remains unrepentant on her release.
Story Tools EMAIL PRINT BUY Also in Top Stories The P.U.-litzer Prizes
For 2004 Norman Solomon, AlterNet The Fire This Time Kelly Hearn, AlterNet
Public Access, Private Profit Amy Goodman, Democracy Now! Bush's Posse
Roundup James Bovard, AlterNet More stories by Lakshmi Chaudhry Reknowned
Indian author Arundhati Roy was released from a New Dehli prison Thursday
after serving a one-day sentence for criminal contempt of court. -Full
Story- (Alternet - 11/12/04)
The
Contempt of Courts Act, 1971. (India)
24th December, 1971] An Act to define and limit the powers of certain
courts in punishing contempt’s of courts and to regulate their procedure
in relation thereto Be it enacted by Parliament in the Twenty-second
Year of the Republic of India as follows -Full
Story- (judgesplot4plot.com - 11/12/04)
Decisions
of the Superior Courts of New South Wales, 1788-1899
The Court punished the Editor of the Sydney Gazette summarily for publishing
offensive reflections upon the conduct of the Judges in a proceeding
then depending in the Court and in contempt of the Court.] -Full
Story- (Decisions of the Superior
Courts of New South Wales, 1788-1899 - 11/12/04)
IN
THE HIGH COURT OF THE HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION COURT
OF APPEAL
On 23 June 1998, the appellant, Wong Yeung Ng, was convicted of two
contempts of court and sentenced to a total of 4 months' imprisonment
by a Divisional Court (Chan CJHC and Keith J, [1998] 2 HKLRD 123). At
the time of the contempts, the appellant was editor of the Oriental
Daily News. The Oriental Press Group Ltd, a public listed company, is
the de facto owner publisher and controller of the Oriental Daily News.
The Oriental Press Group was also convicted and fined $5 million but
does not appeal. -Full
Story- (hku.hk - 11/12/04)
CONSULTATION
PAPER ON CONTEMPT OF COURT
-Full
Story- (THE LAW REFORM COMMISSION
IRELAND - 11/12/04)
The
Story That Got a Reporter Jailed
The following is the article that led Malaysian courts to imprison Murray
Hiebert, a reporter for the Far Eastern Economic Review, for scandalizing
the court. The jail sentence was affirmed Saturday and discussed in
Monday's Review and Outlook columns. The original article is reprinted
here to provide details of the case. It originally ran in the Review
(which is owned by Dow Jones & Co., publisher of this newspaper) on
Jan. 23, 1997, under the headlines "Malaysia: See You in Court: A series
of civil suits suggests growing litigiousness." The trial court's objections
are summarized in the accompanying box. -Full
Story- (oak.cats.ohiou.edu - 11/12/04)
Pakistan
Law Muffles Opposition to Army-Judiciary Nexus
Widening the scope of contempt laws, the Pakistan government recently
issued the draconian Contempt of Court Ordinance, 2003, that makes even
mere criticism of a judge a punishable offence, sparking off widespread
protests from the intelligentsia. -Full
Story- (southasia.oneworld.net - 11/12/04)
HIGH
COURT OF AUSTRALIA
Contempt of Court - Nature of offence - Obstruction to or interferonce
with justice - Publication of statements concerning a Judge of the High
Court. -Full
Story- (hrnicholls.com.au - 11/12/04)
===============
