Practice

Committal for contempt - discharge of contemnor on terms - condition that remaining part of sentence suspendedHarris v Harris: FD ( Munby J): 21 June 2001The applicant had been convicted of contempt for repeated breaches of injunctions restraining him from misbehaving in relation to his former wife and the three children of the marriage and sentenced to 10 months' imprisonment.

Having served three months of his sentence he applied to purge his contempt on the basis that he be discharged from prison with the remainder of his sentence suspended.Mr Harris in person; Richard Ritchie (instructed by Treasury Solicitor) for the Attorney General as amicus curiae.Held, granting the application, that the power of the High Court to suspend a sentence of imprisonment for contempt of court was not statutory but inherent to the jurisdiction of the court at common law; that it was highly desirable that the court should not be unnecessarily fettered in its ability to adapt its processes and its powers so as to maximise its capacity to secure compliance with its orders particularly in the context of family law; and that, in order to achieve those aims, although there was no direct authority on the point the court had jurisdiction to order the discharge of a convicted contemnor from prison on terms that the remaining part of the sentence was to be suspended.