CHAPTER 21 —CONTEMPTS
Editorial Notes
Amendments
1990—
1949—Act May 24, 1949, ch. 139, §8(a), (b),
§401. Power of court
A court of the United States shall have power to punish by fine or imprisonment, or both, at its discretion, such contempt of its authority, and none other, as—
(1) Misbehavior of any person in its presence or so near thereto as to obstruct the administration of justice;
(2) Misbehavior of any of its officers in their official transactions;
(3) Disobedience or resistance to its lawful writ, process, order, rule, decree, or command.
(June 25, 1948, ch. 645,
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on
Said section 385 conferred two powers. The first part authorizing courts of the United States to impose and administer oaths will remain in title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., Judicial Code and Judiciary. The second part relating to contempt of court constitutes this section.
Changes in phraseology and arrangement were made.
Editorial Notes
Amendments
2002—
§402. Contempts constituting crimes
Any person, corporation or association willfully disobeying any lawful writ, process, order, rule, decree, or command of any district court of the United States, including the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court or the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review established by section 103 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (
Such fine shall be paid to the United States or to the complainant or other party injured by the act constituting the contempt, or may, where more than one is so damaged, be divided or apportioned among them as the court may direct, but in no case shall the fine to be paid to the United States exceed, in case the accused is a natural person, the sum of $1,000, nor shall such imprisonment exceed the term of six months.
This section shall not be construed to relate to contempts committed in the presence of the court, or so near thereto as to obstruct the administration of justice, nor to contempts committed in disobedience of any lawful writ, process, order, rule, decree, or command entered in any suit or action brought or prosecuted in the name of, or on behalf of, the United States, but the same, and all other cases of contempt not specifically embraced in this section may be punished in conformity to the prevailing usages at law.
For purposes of this section, the term "State" includes a State of the United States, the District of Columbia, and any commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United States.
(June 25, 1948, ch. 645,
Historical and Revision Notes
1948 Act
Based on
Section 21 of the Clayton Act,
In transferring these sections to this title and in consolidating them numerous changes of phraseology were necessary which do not, however, change their meaning or substance. Words "corporation or association" were inserted after "any person" in substitution for the definition provisions of
The words "any person, corporation, or association," unqualified except by the context of the section mean all that the more lengthy definition included. Only those persons, corporations, and associations who were parties to the order or had actual notice of it may be punished for contempt. (See McCauly v. First Trust & Savings Bank, C.C.A. Ill. 1921, 276 F. 117. See, also National Labor Relations Board v. Blackstone Mfg. Co., C.C.A. 1941, 123 F. 2d 633.) The fact that the contemnor was incorporated or organized under a foreign law or under the laws of a particular State or Territory would hardly be relevant to the issue of criminal contempt.
As noted above these sections were part of the Clayton Act, entitled "An act to supplement existing laws against unlawful restraints and monopolies, and for other purposes." Whatever doubt might have existed as to whether the contempt provisions were variously limited to antitrust cases seems to be dispelled by the case of Sandefur v. Canoe Creek Coal Co. (C.C.A. Ky. 1923, 293 F. 379, certified question answered 45 S. Ct. 18, 266 U.S. 42, 69 L. Ed. 162, 35 A.L.R. 451), where the court says: "The act, considered as a whole, covers several more or less distinct subjects. * * * The first eight sections pertain directly to the subject of trust and monopolies; section 9 concerns interstate commerce; section 10, combinations among common carriers; section 11, proceedings to enforce certain provisions of the act; sections 12–16, antitrust procedure and remedies; sections 17–19, regulations of injunction and restraining orders in all cases; section 20 limits the power of an equity court to issue any injunction in a certain class of cases, viz., between employer and the employee; and sections 21–24 pertain to procedure in any district court, punishing contemptuous disregard of any order of such court, providing the act constituting contempt is also a criminal offense. Observing this relation of the various parts of the act to each other, we think 'within the purview of this act' must refer to that portion of the act which most broadly covers the subject-matter to which section 22 is devoted, and this portion is section 21, which reaches all cases where the act of contempt is also a criminal offense. We know of nothing in the legislative history of the act, or within the common knowledge as to the then existing situation, which justifies us in thinking that 'within the purview of this act,' in section 22, meant to limit its effect to the employer-employee provisions of section 20, or even to the antitrust scope of some of the earlier sections." (See also Michaelson v. United States, 1924, 45 S. Ct. 18, 166 U.S. 42, 69 L. Ed. 162, 35 A.L.R. 451, and H. Rept. No. 613, 62d Cong., 2d sess., to accompany H.R. 15657.)
1949 Act
This amendment [see section 8] corrects the catchline of
Editorial Notes
Amendments
2024—
1994—
1990—
1949—Act May 24, 1949, substituted "Contempts constituting crimes" for "Criminal contempts" in section catchline.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date of 1994 Amendment
§403. Protection of the privacy of child victims and child witnesses
A knowing or intentional violation of the privacy protection accorded by
(Added