Contempt & court proceedings (Pt 1)

• 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.