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06 January 2017 / David Burrows
Issue: 7728 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice , Family
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Contempt & court proceedings (Pt 1)

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The variety of application of the laws of contempt are explained by David Burrows in the first of two articles on contempt in court
  • What is the meaning of contempt in court proceedings: beyond ‘fair and temperate’ criticism?
  • Civil and criminal contempt compared.
  • Contempt and privacy in proceedings involving children and parties lacking capacity.

EU withdrawal (“Brexit”) may engage, and child sexual exploitation engages, two very different forms of contempt. The first raises the question of whether the press has gone beyond fair and temperate criticism of judges. The second asks how far the court can order that an abuse victim remain anonymous. They coalesce over freedom of speech and how far this may be inhibited by committal application or reporting restraint order (RRO). This article considers contempt. Part 2 looks more specifically at privacy and family proceedings.

At one end of the spectrum on 3 November 2016 the Divisional Court (Lord Thomas LCJ, Sir Thomas Etherington MR and Sales LJ) handed down judgment in R (Miller) v The Secretary

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