Contempt of court and the need for legislation

• Author: Paul Anthony McDermott
• Position: B.c.l., ll.m. (Cantab.), ph.d. (N.u.I.), b.l., lecturer, faculty of law, university college dublin
• Pages: 185-195

CONTEMPT OF COURT AND THE NEED FOR

LEGISLATION

PAUL ANTHONY McDERMOTT*

I. INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this article is to consider whether the law of

contempt of court is sufficiently clear and unambiguous to operate

effectively in this jurisdiction. In particular, it will be argued that

there is an urgent need for legislative intervention. The basic

principles of the doctrine of contempt and the leading cases have

been exhaustively set out elsewhere and will not be repeated here.1

What this article seeks to do is to identify some of the problems that

exist with the law as currently applied in Irish courts.

The obsessive zeal with which litigants may pursue their imagined

grievances and the inventive remedies that are available to the courts

to utilise against them is well illustrated by the recent English case of

Attorney General v. Ebert.2The Attorney General sought an order,

inter alia,barring the respondent from entering the Royal Courts of

Justice without permission. The respondent, one Mr. Ebert, was a

bankrupt who had been declared a vexatious litigant. In the course

of about three and a half years Mr. Ebert had made at least 151

applications to the courtfor permission to issue fresh proceedings or

applications in existing proceedings. On up to ten occasions he had

been removed from the court by security guards. He had accused one

judge of being guilty of fraud and blackmail. He had visited

bankruptcy chambers and said that if the registrar did not break off

what he was doing and hear an application made by him without

notice he would call the police. On many occasions Mr.Eberthad

made requests of court staff that an application brought by him be

heard immediately. He had also written many letters to Neuberger J.

who had heard nearly all of his applications, making serious

allegations against the judge in many of the letters. These allegations

2004] Contemp of Court and the need for

Legislation 185

*B.C.L., LL.M. (Cantab.), Ph.D. (N.U.I.), B.L., Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University College

Dublin.

1See in particular the Law Reform Commission’s excellent Consultation Paper on Contempt

of Court (L.R.C. CP 4 - 1991).

2[2002] 2 All E.R. 789 (Q.B.).