From time to time, you will have read in the newspaper about strikers defying a court order not to strike or about demonstrators protesting too vigorously and disobeying a court order. Courts take the orders they make very seriously and, if you do not abide by an order, you may find yourself in jail.
There are two kinds of contempt of court. Ex facie contempt is an act of contempt of the court which takes place outside of the courtroom, that is, not in the face of the court. An example in the small claims court is what is called a judgment debtor examination. A plaintiff who has a judgment for the payment of money against a defendant is a judgment creditor and the defendant is a judgment debtor. If the money is not paid, the creditor has a right to examine the debtor about the debtor’s assets and employment.
The clerk of the court issues a notice of examination ordering the debtor to appear at a specific time and place to be examined. If the debtor does not appear in court for the examination, a court may order a contempt hearing to determine if the person failed to attend the examination wilfully. If the debtor can explain his failure to attend, for example, because the debtor did not receive the notice examination since it was mailed to an old address, the court will simply order another examination. If the debtor cannot explain his failure to attend, a court may order the debtor to be jailed for up to 40 days. This sounds harsh but the small claims court has, in fact, ordered debtors to be entertained by Her Majesty. It is the wilful non-attendance that constitutes the contempt not the failure to pay the judgment. Debtors’ prison of the nineteenth century where people were sent when they did not pay their debts was abolished a long time ago.
The second kind of contempt is in facie contempt, or contempt in the face of the court. The debtor appears for the examination before the court but refuses to answer questions about assets or employment. Instead of jail, a judge may give the debtor a period of time to purge the contempt by answering the questions. Another method is to fine the debtor an amount of money and, if the fine is not paid by a certain date, a warrant for the debtor’s arrest will automatically issue.