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Contempt: In the Common Law, but not the Civil Law
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 January 2008
Extract
To allow Court orders to be disobeyed would be to tread the road towards anarchy. If the orders of the Court can be treated with disrespect, the whole administration of justice is brought into scorn. Daily, thousands of Canadians resort to our Courts for relief against the wrongful acts of others. If the remedies that Courts grant to correct those wrongs can be ignored, then there will be nothing left but for each person to take the law into his own hands. Loss of respect for the Courts will quickly result in the destruction of our society. [O'Leary J, in Canada Metal Co. Ltd v. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (1975) 48 DLR 3d 641, 669 (High Court of Ontario)]
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References
1. This is a rough-and-ready way of summarising the technical distinction between criminal and civil contempt. For extended discussion, see e.g. the judgments of the High Court of Australia in Holloway, Witham v. (1995) 183 C.L.R. 525, 530–534, 538–549Google Scholar; Lowe, N. and Sufrin, B., Borne and Lowe: The Law of Contempt (3rd edn, 1996), pp.2–4Google Scholar; Miller, C. J., Contempt of Court (2nd edn, 1989), chap.2.Google Scholar
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3. For discussion of these offences and their relationship to the law of criminal contempt, see e.g. Australian Law Reform Commission, Report No.35, Contempt (1987) (hereafter “ALRC 35”), paras.34–36, 144–232.Google Scholar
4. The “strict liability” principle introduced by s.1 of this Act has radically altered the sub judice principle. But except for introducing a general upper limit of two years for any prison sentence imposed for contempt and establishing a statutory version of contempt in the face of a magistrate's court, the Act does not affect the other three areas of contempt specifically dealt with in this article.
5. For general discussion, see e.g. Smith, A. T. H., “Judicial Lawmaking in the Criminal Law” (1984) 100 L.Q.R. 46, 69–73.Google Scholar In international treaties this notion finds expression in phrases such as “provided by law” (see International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (“ICCPR”), Art.19) or “prescribed by law” (see European Convention on Human Rights (“ECHR”), Art.10(2) and the discussion of this phrase by the European Court of Human Rights in Sunday Times v. United Kingdom [1979] 2 E.H.H.R. 245, para.49).Google Scholar
6. The classic instance of judicial creation of a common law criminal offence, in violation of the normal rule, is probably the House of Lords decision in Director of Public Prosecutions v. Shaw [1962] 2 A.C. 220 (the “ladies' directory” case) that an offence of “conspiring to corrupt public morals” existed.
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8. Idem, p.302 (per Lord Morris).
9. In the UK a gaol sentence for any species of contempt cannot exceed two years: Contempt of Court Act 1981, s.14(1). Frequently, fines and gaol sentences for contempt in the face of the court (or its statutory equivalent) in an inferior court have a statutory maximum: see e.g. idem, s.12; District Courts Act 1967 (Queensland), s.105.
10. In the absence of explicit statutory power, these are the only forms of sentence available to the court: Morris v. Crown Office [1970] 2 Q.B. 114.Google Scholar
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28. Supra n.26.
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31. Infra Section II.B.2(b).
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37. See sources cited in and text accompanying supra n.16.
38. Stefani et al., loc. cit. supra n.32.
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40. Infra Section II.C.3.
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65. For an Australian example of a court explicitly reducing the penalty because the convicted offender apologised, see Re Goodwin, supra n.60.
66. This point is made, with reference to the significance of retraction in defamation law, in ALRC 35, supra n.3, at para.448.
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74. This was the remedy obtained by the A-G in Times Newspapers Ltd, supra n.69.
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87. Until relatively recently, a court could not impose a penalty by way of punishment for past disobedience unless the contemnor had acted “contumaciously”, i.e. with “rebellious stubbornness”. But this extra requirement no longer applies. See ALRC 35, idem, paras. 515–517.
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97. Further relevant laws are those of 9 July 1991, Arts.33–37, and 31 July 1992, Arts.51–53. See generally Kahn-Freund, O., Levy, C. and Rudden, B., A Source-Book on French Law (3rd, revd edn, 1991, by B. Rudden), pp.506–515Google Scholar; Vincent, J. and Guinchard, J. J., Procédure civile (Précis Dalloz, 21st edn, 1987), para.388Google Scholar; Bloch, M., “France”, in Kaye, P., Methods of Execution of Judgments and Orders in Europe (1996), chap.6, pp.100, 104Google Scholar; Catala, N., “Astreintes in French Law” [1959] Juridical Rev. (N.S.) 163Google Scholar; Denti, V. and Silves-tri, E., “Regional Report from Continental Western Europe”, in Jacobsson and Jacob, op. cit supra n.89, p.157, at pp.161–163.Google Scholar
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115. Text accompanying supra nn.4, 67.
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119. For further discussion of the historical and present-day role of the theory of separation of powers in French law see text accompanying infra nn.138 et seq.
120. See sources cited supra n.97.
121. Text accompanying supra nn. 99–100.
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142. See text accompanying supra nn. 69–72.
143. See sources cited supra n. 101.
144. In the writer's view these should not include any substitute for contempt by scandalising: see Chesterman, op. cit. supra n.41, at paras.137, 143. Contrast the recommendation in ALRC 35, supra n.3, at para.460, for a narrowly drawn statutory offence, covering the public imputing of misconduct to a judge where serious harm to his/her official reputation is likely to result and the imputation is neither true nor honestly and reasonably believed to be true. See too the decision of the High Court of Ontario in Kopyto, supra n.50, outlined in the accompanying text.
145. E.g. ALRC 35, idem; see para.44 and Summary of Recommendations, para.1.
146. In 1984 the Canadian Parliament debated a bill (Bill C–19) which abolished the law of criminal contempt and substituted new provisions in the Criminal Code. But the bill lapsed with the fall of the then government.
147. E.g. Lord, Devlin (in 1968) and Lord Scarman (in 1980): see ALRC 35, supra n.3, at para. 12.Google Scholar
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