Draft Bill on the Contempt of Court

A Draft Bill on Contempt of Court (“Draft Bill”) has been proposed to the House of Representatives (House) with the ultimate aim of inclusion in the 2016 National Legislation Program.The purpose of the Draft Bill is to uphold the integrity, independence, and honor of the court as a judiciary body. [1] In order to achieve this goal, the Draft Bill sets out the legal framework for processing the crime of “contempt of court” and will be applicable at all levels of court (from first-instance courts all the way up to the Supreme Court). [2] The 2015 Regulation is of relevance to judges, lawyers, and law-enforcement officers, as well as to the general public.Contempt of CourtDefinitionContempt of court is defined as any kind of intervention, action, attitude, remark, behavior, speech, and/or publication that attempts to insult, degrade, disrupt, and/or undermine the authority, honor, and dignity of a court and its judges. [3] A total of 24 different contempt-of-court crimes are set out in the Draft Bill, including but not limited to: [4]