Fathers of contempt law mull scrapping it

DAILY TIMES

Britain is set to scrap the medieval offence of scandalising judges or the courts, as the government's official law reform organisation has termed it out-of-date, Daily Times has learnt. Judges no longer need the old law to protect themselves from scurrilous abuse, and any attempt to use it would risk bringing the judiciary into disrespect. The last successful prosecution was more than 80 years ago and there was controversy this year over an attempt to bring a case against former Northern Ireland secretary Peter Hain over criticism of a judge in his memoirs. Speaking at the launch of a consultation paper on the issue, David Ormerod of the British Law Commission said, “We are making a proposal to abolish this anachronistic form of contempt of court.” Dating back to 1344, scandalising the court is a form of contempt of court triggered by publishing anything that ridicules the judiciary so that it is likely to bring the administration of justice into disrepute. It was revived in the middle of the 18th century to deal with critics of the establishment but has since fallen into disuse. In 1900, the editor of the Birmingham Argus was found to have committed contempt by scandalising the court after describing Justice Darling as “an impudent little man in horsehair, a microcosm of conceit and empty-headedness”. The last successful prosecution in England and Wales was in 1931. The Law Commission’s consultation paper recommends abolition in England and Wales. But it also outlines a modified offence under which the case would only be proved if there was substantial risk of seriously harming the administration of justice or where the statements published were untrue. Ormerod said, “We are not leaving judges unprotected here. If the publication involves threats or harassment it could be prosecuted and in other circumstances judges could rely on the civil law by bringing proceedings for libel.” A separate offence of scandalising the face of the court would continue to exist.