Minister of Legal Affairs Charles Ramson has tabled a bill in the National Assembly which creates offences relating to contempt of court and also defines the powers of certain courts to punish for contempt.
The Contempt of Court Bill 2010 creates offences for obtaining and disclosing a jury’s deliberations and using tape recorders in court. The legislation also sets out the punishment that can be imposed on finding that a person is in contempt of court; a distinction is made where the person is an individual or a company.
The bill also looks at the circumstances in which a publication will be considered in contempt of court; these circumstances include where there is an innocent publication, a fair and accurate report of pending proceedings before the court and fair criticism of a judicial act.
According to the bill, no appeal lies from an order made by the court for where the contempt is committed in the face of the court. However, Clause 15 states that in every other case where the contempt is not in the face of the court, an appeal shall lie in like manner as if such an order were a judgment or order under the High Court Act, the Court of Appeal or the Caribbean Court of Justice.
