Washington University Law Review Volume 1961 Issue 1 January 1961 The History of the Contempt Power Ronald Goldfarb New York University Law School Follow this and additional works at: https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_lawreview Recommended Citation Ronald Goldfarb, The History of the Contempt Power, 1961 WASH. U. L. Q. 1 (1961). Available at: https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_lawreview/vol1961/iss1/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law School at Washington University Open Scholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in Washington University Law Review by an authorized administrator of Washington University Open Scholarship. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY LAW QUARTERLY Volume 1961 February, 1961 Number 1 THE HISTORY OF THE CONTEMPT POWER* Ronald Goldfarbi" INTRODUCTION Contempt can be generally defined as an act of disobedience or dis- respect toward a judicial or legislative body, or interference with its orderly process, for which a summary punishment is usually exacted. In a grander view, it is a power assumed by governmental bodies to coerce cooperation, and punish criticism or interference, even of a causally indirect nature. In legal literature, it has been categorized, subclassified, and scholastically dignified by division into varying shades--each covering some particular aspect of the general power, respectively governed by a particular procedure. So, the texts separate retributive or criminal coritempts from merely coercive or civil con- tempts--those directly offensive from those only constructively con- temptuous-those affecting the judiciary and others the legislature. The implementation of this power has taken place predominantly in England and America, and has recently been accelerated into a con- tinuingly greater role in the United States.