Supreme Court on Contempt of Court

Reliable, single point, all comprehensive source for the entire Supreme Court case-law from 1950 till date

This superb Digest is the most authoritative and up to date on the subject, covering the complete case-law on Contempt of Court, laid down by the Supreme Court since 1950 to date. It has been designed particularly to meet your needs, firstly by making the access to the case-law more intuitive and rational by following a topic-wise approach and secondly by also providing a unique system for exhaustive section-wise research via the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971.

A major reworking and re-analysis of the case law has been done, and the material recast topic-wise with a comprehensive classification. Topic headings and synopses have been frequently added to enable quick reference. Table of Cases Digested, Date of decision, Quick Guides, Coram details, Annotations under digest notes are other useful and unique features which makes this an indispensable work.

Additionally, the work provides the complete text of the Contempt of Court Act, 1971.

All reported and unreported judgements covered.

1. Court

2. Nature and Scope
(a) Broadly
(b) Freedom of speech/expression and contempt of court
(c) Power of superior court to punish for contempt of inferior/subordinate court
(d) Contempt by court, judge, magistrate or other person acting judicially
(e) Contempt by Advocates
(f) Contempt by court/registry officers or staff

3. Criminal Contempt
General principles

4. Civil Contempt
(a) General principles
(b) Instances of civil contempt

5. Maintainability
(a) Generally
(b) Cognizance

6. Practice and Procedure
(a) Generally
(b) Contempt in face of the court
(c) Specific matters

7. Exercise of Contempt Jurisdiction
(a) Generally
(b) Suo motu initiation of contempt proceedings

8. Defences
(a) Apology
(b) Justification and Truth
(c) Fair criticism or comment
(d) Proceedings not pending or ignorance of pendency of proceedings

9. Punishment for Contempt
(a) Abuse of process
(b) Criminal contempt
(c) Civil contempt
(d) Costs as punishment
(e) Sentencing
(f) Other instances of punishment

10. Particular Statutes and Rules
(a) Contempt of Courts Act, 1971
(b) Rules to Regulate Proceedings for Contempt of Court under Calcutta High Court Contempt of Court Rules, 1975
(c) Rules to Regulate Proceedings for Contempt of the Supreme Court, 1975