Limits of Contempt of Court
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002201839906300525 |
| Published date | 01 October 1999 |
| Date | 01 October 1999 |
The
Journal
of
Criminal
Law
here, ina caseof civil contempt. Whatever the nature of thecontempt,
it would seem that Lord Denning MR's limitation to such proceedings to
cases of urgency, where itis 'imperative to act immediately' (see
Balogh
vSt Albans
CC
(1995)QB 73)would seem equally applicable toall cases
of contempt: cf
DPP
v
Channel
Four
Television
Co
Ltd [1993]2 All ER517,
per Woolf
U,
who stated that theright of thejudge to act on his
own
motion is limitedto cases inwhich:(a)
the
contempt is clear,(b) it affects
a trial already in progress or one about to begin, (c) itis urgent
and
it is
imperative to act immediately,and(d) noother procedure will do. The
observation of Ward Uin thepresent case that 'all remedies should
be exhausted before this weapon is wielded' is equallyapplicableto
criminal contempts,for there is always adanger that
when
ajudge acts
on his
own
motion, without the support of anyoftheparties,hemay
give theappearance of doing
So
for no more
than
protecting his
own
dignity, rather
than
acting in theinterests of justice.And where the
contempt has occurred on proceedings which have been held in
camera,
that is
the
more difficult to deny,since thepublic mayknow nothing of
it, so that the public interest is themore difficult toestablishasthe
justification for thecommittal.
Limits of Contempt of Court
R v
Lubega
(1999) 163
lP
221
The appellant
and
aco-defendant were on bail
and
were to appear
before
the
court at a fixed time
and
date. In theevent, the jury failed to
agree
and
were discharged without reaching a result.Onthefirst day of
the trial, the appellant was late
and
received a 'strict warning' from the
judge that his lateness was a breach of theterms of hisbail,which was
'another
offence'
and
that, if hewerelatethenext day the judge would
treat it as a contempt of court
and
added,'You'll find yourselfin the
cells'. Next day, hewas 20 minutes late. Before he arrived,the judge had
ordered that 'if and
when
he turns up, he could be
put
straight into the
cells'
and
that his counsel could address thecourt later in the day.
When
he turned up, however, the judge changed his mind
and
dealt with him
then
and
there, although his counseltwice askedfor time toconsider the
matter. Counsel addressed the court on the assumption that there had
been abreach of theBail Act1976,butthejudge treated his offence as
one of contempt of courtandsentenced him to28 days'imprisonment.
Next day,
when
counsel again addressed the court,the judge declined to
reconsider his decision.
Section3( 1) of theBail Act1976providesthat 'a person granted bail
in criminal proceedings shall be under aduty to surrender to custody'
and that duty is enforceable under s 6 of theAct. Section6 provides that
if hehasbeen releasedonbail andfails tosurrender to custody, he shall,
440
Get this document and AI-powered insights with a free trial of vLex and Vincent AI
Get Started for FreeStart Your 3-day Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your 3-day Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your 3-day Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your 3-day Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your 3-day Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting