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INFERIOR COURT SHOULD NOT TRY CONTEMPT OF COURT

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Dictum

From the foregoing, I am unable to hold that the extra-judicial vituperative exchanges between the appellant and the respondent in the peculiar circumstances of this case amounted to contempt of court. On the contrary I think that the invocation of the power of contempt in the instant case bordered on abuse of judicial authority. It is clearly improper and will expose the administration of justice to ridicule if a magistrate or a presiding officer of an inferior court were invested with such extraordinary powers to provoke unnecessary extra-judicial verbal exchanges with counsel or a member of the public and yet invoke against him the lethal and drastic power to punish for contempt.

– Achike JCA. Adeyemi v. Edigin (1990)

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POWER TO PUNISH FOR CONTEMPT IS NOT SUBJECTIVE

Clearly, it seems to me that the discretionary power of the court to punish for contempt is reviewable. Any reviewing authority is undoubtedly invited to make an objective assessment of a matter under consideration. To, therefore, hold as the lower court did, that the test regarding the power of the court to punish for contempt is subjective, is with respect, unacceptable.

– Achike JCA. Adeyemi v. Edigin (1990)

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COURT’S POWER TO PUNISH FOR CONTEMPT

One would note that the court’s power to punish for contempt is as old as the courts themselves. In the celebrated case of Atake v. The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1982) 11 S.C. 153, the Supreme Court, per Idigbe, J.S.C., had decided that the power of the court to punish for contempt is inherent and indeed preserved under Sections 6 and 36(3)(a) of the 1979 Constitution. It is undoubtedly a sine qua non to the smooth and proper administration of justice and ought to be preserved. It belongs to the realm of discretionary powers of the court. But the courts have recognised its uniqueness and have cautioned that the power to punish for contempt should be invoked sparingly.

– Achike JCA. Adeyemi v. Edigin (1990)

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TO ESTABLISH CONTEMPT OF BREACH OF AN ORDER OF INJUNCTION

In Onagoruwa vs. Adeniju (1999) 5 NWLR (PT.293) 317, wherein, my lord, Niki Tobi JCA (as he then was) stated what must be proved in contempt application, thus: “To establish contempt of breach of an order of injunction the following elements must be established: 1. The terms of the injunction must be clear and unambiguous; 2. It must be proved that the defendant had had proper notice of the terms of the injunction; 3. There must be a positive proof that the terms of the injunction have been broken.”

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CONTEMPT OF COURT GOES TO THE INHERENT JURISDICTION OF A COURT OF RECORD

It is clear that the contempt of court which a court of record is entitled to deal with brevi manu is not anywhere prescribed in a written law but it is part of the functions which are associated with the inherent jurisdiction of a court of record.

– GEORGE BAPTIST AYODOLA COKER, J.S.C. A.U. Deduwa & Ors. v. The State (1975)

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CONTEMPT OF COURT IS TO PROTECT DIGNITY OF THE COURT

Contempt of court may be described as any act or conduct which interferes with the course of justice and tends to bring the authority and administration of law into disrespect. The twin elements of contempt of court are, therefore, interference and disrespect. The aim of the law of contempt of court, therefore, is to protect the dignity of court from any conduct that tends to obstruct or interfere with the administration of justice.

– Achike JCA. Adeyemi v. Edigin (1990)

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CONTEMPT: IN FACIE CURIAE VS EX FACIE CURIAE

Here, I take liberty to restate that there are two broad classifications of contempt: that committed in facie curiae and that committed ex facie curiae. In the latter category, a charge and a plea are necessary and the accused is entitled to a fair hearing of the case against him.

– Chima Centus Nweze, J.S.C. Independent National Electoral Commission & Anor v. Ejike Oguebego & Ors (2017)

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