Civil Contempt: Permission and Appropriate Forum

Types of case requiring permission

CPR 81.3(5) provides that permission to bring committal proceedings is only required in two types of cases: 

3/15 Civil Contempt: Summary of the Changes in CPR 81

Background and consultation

With effect from 1 October 2020, there is a completely redrafted CPR 81, and Practice Direction 81 is revoked in its entirety with regard to proceedings for contempt of court.

In consultation: ‘Proposed rule changes relating to contempt of court: redraft of CPR Part 81’, which ran from 9 March 2020 to 1 May 2020, the Civil Procedure Rule Committee stated that in its view the procedural aspects of the existing CPR in relation to committal proceedings were:

Civil Contempt Proceedings: Legal Framework

The legal framework of contempt proceedings

CPR 81 governs committal proceedings.

As applications for committal for contempt can result in imprisonment or other draconian sanctions, including confiscation of assets, specific regard must be had to article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). For more information, see Inplayer Ltd (formerly Invideous Ltd) v Thorogood [2014] EWCA Civ 1511.

The Coroner presiding over an eight-week inquest into deaths in a care home in South Wales in the early 2000s has found that there was serious abuse by the nursing staff and managers. Anna Midgley represented the contracting local authority. There were concerns that steps should have been taken earlier by that authority, the local health board, and the regulator CSIW as it then was, to terminate the contract for care with the provider and/or take enforcement action. Whilst the Learned Coroner held that there had been too much focus on proc

Civil Contempt: An Introduction to the Spring E-Bulletin Series

It is now over five years since Richard Shepherd of Albion Chambers was invited to re-write the LexisNexis^® PSL content for civil contempt of court. Though Richard’s focus is on civil contempt, the vast majority of the principles apply to all fields, whether of a civil, crime or family leaning.
 

The CoA is being asked to consider how the Family Court deals with allegations of domestic abuse, rape and controlling and coercive behaviour in a highly significant case that is likely to result in new guidance being issued to Judges.
 
The appeal is before Lord Justice Macfarlane (President of the Family Division), Lady Justice King (a judge with a Family Law background) and Lord Justice Holroyde (a Judge with a Criminal Law background).
 

The latest (October 2020!) version of the ET Rules have now been uploaded to the gov website. Only four months late I guess.  Here's the link for bookmarking and a cure for insomnia.
 
ps. Hat Tip to Paman Singh, Head of Litigation at Law at Work, for spotting this and disseminating it on Twitter.

I can remember when a reference to the Attorney General on the grounds that a sentence was unduly lenient was a rare event. Now the situation has changed so much that it appears that every sentence that someone dislikes has become fair game.