header-logo header-logo

Choose your weapon wisely

25 October 2013 / Nicholas Stewart KC , Max Cole
Issue: 7581 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice
printer mail-detail
001_nlj_7581_ofc

Nicholas Stewart QC & Max Cole on the risks of contempt of court applications

Contempt of court comes in many forms, some more lively than others. A defendant who ate an incriminating telex during the execution of an Anton Piller search order was obviously guilty. Rather longer ago, it was unsurprisingly a contempt to draw a sword to strike a judge. On the other hand, applying some version of the sticks and stones principle, an Australian court held in 2000 that it was no contempt, by a barrister as it happened, to call a judge by the w-word. Not wise, though.

Civil contempt by an individual is punishable by prison and/or a fine. In the case of a company, its officers are liable to those same punishments and the company can be fined. The contemnor’s assets may also be placed in the hands of sequestrators—as with the National Union of Mineworkers in the bitter mid-1980s litigation. While it is called civil contempt, the applicant must meet the criminal standard of proof.

Motives

From

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
In this week's NLJ, Steven Ball of Red Lion Chambers unpacks how advances in forensic science finally unmasked Ryland Headley, jailed in 2025 for the 1967 rape and murder of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne. Preserved swabs and palm prints lay dormant for decades until DNA-17 profiling produced a billion-to-one match
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
back-to-top-scroll