Contempt of Court OR?

Muhammad Shafee vs Sri Ram

Lawyer Datuk Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, who was an ex-Attorney-General officer, may be charged for contempt of court for writing a letter to Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Abdul Malek Ahmad and Chief Justice of the Federal Court Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim, where he complained about an alleged lack of impartiality on the part of Court of Appeal judge Datuk Gopal Sri Ram in the Metramac appeal.

Sri Ram construed that the said letter was tantamount to an attempt to silence a judge. Sri Ram said the court would not sit quiet and allow anyone to do as they pleased. "The rot will set in and no one will respect the court when anyone can write to muzzle a judge," he said.

Shafee told the court the letter had been drafted on instructions from his client, and "I do not hide behind my client’s skirts".

"I act only for my client. My client is Metramac."

"This is a public-interest case that touched on the dignity of the court," Sri Ram said. Sri Ram said he had been treated like a "naughty boy who needed to be caned". Describing the letter as "improper", Sri Ram said he was not afraid of complaints. "But you cannot muzzle a judge, especially me," he said. "We are servants of justice." Sri Ram recalled that the late judge Tan Sri Harun Hashim had once made a caustic comment against a former A-G, saying he "did not know the difference between a duck and a chicken". "But there was no complaint. Why is the culture changing?"

So, what is contempt of court?

“When you do anything in or out of court which brings ridicule to the administration of justice and, as a result, cause people to lose respect for the system, very often that is considered contempt,” said V. Sithambaram. He cites as example a person who speaks disrespectfully of a judge while a case is going on, or who fails to follow the traditions and etiquette of the court.

Gobind Singh Deo gave another perspective to contempt. “Any act intended or calculated to influence any decision of a pending matter can amount to contempt.
“That's why you have the concept of sub judice,” he said.

Esther Tan, a former magistrate, said contempt could be defined as not obeying what the court had ordered. “Disobeying a court can come in many forms. It can be through words, actions or even inaction,” she said.

Concurring with these comments, Amer Hamzah Arshad said criminal contempt might take many forms but they all involved an interference with the administration of justice.
However, he also pointed out that the law only armed the courts with the power to prevent attempts of such interference. “It is not meant to be used to protect the judges from being subjected to fair comment or criticisms from the public.”

Contempt of court is a court ruling which, in the context of a court trial or hearing, deems an individual as holding contempt for the court, its process, and its invested powers. Often stated simply as "in contempt," it is the highest remedy of a judge to impose sanctions on an individual for acts which wantonly or excessively disrupt the normal process of a court hearing.

A finding of contempt of court may result from a failure to obey a lawful order of a court, showing disrespect for the judge, disruption of the proceedings through poor behavior, or publication of material deemed likely to jeopardize a fair trial. A judge may impose sanctions such as a fine or jail for someone found guilty of contempt of court. Typically judges in common law systems have more extensive power to declare someone in contempt than judges in civil law systems.

Bouvier described contempt as "A wilful disregard or disobedience of a public authority."

sixthformlaw.com defined it as "An act of defiance of court authority or dignity." Contempt of court can be direct (swearing at a judge or violence against a court officer) or constructive (disobeying a court order). The punishment for contempt is a fine or a brief stay in jail (e.g. overnight or until the contempt is purged by an apology).

Lectric Law Library's Legal Lexicon definition is: Any willful disobedience to, or disregard of, a court order or any misconduct in the presence of a court; action that interferes with a judge's ability to administer justice or that insults the dignity of the court; punishable by fine or imprisonment or both. There are both civil and criminal contempts; the distinction is often unclear.

Those previously convicted of contempt included Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Mah Siew Keong and former Bar Council chairman Zainur Zakaria. Mah was found guilty of contempt of court for failing to execute an ex-parte order made by an Ipoh High Court in 2000. He was fined RM10,000 in default three months' jail by the High Court but the sentence was set aside by the Court of Appeal a year later. Zainur was sentenced to three months' jail for committing contempt in 1998 when he filed a motion for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim which “undermined the integrity of the former deputy prime minister's trial”.

Interesting!! Interesting!! Let's see if the Federal Court would be influenced by another new definition and suggestions as this case involved so many influencial personalities and include ex-ministers and cronies.