No jurisdiction to commit

In re G (a child) (contempt: committal) (CA TLR 5 May)

A county court judge’s power to commit for contempt arises only under s118 of the County Courts Act 1984 in respect of contempt which occurred in the face of the court and under CCR Order 29 which applies generally to family proceedings to make a committal order for disobedience to an order of the court. RSC Order 52 rule 1 (2) provides that in respect of any other contempt committed in connection with proceedings in an inferior court, an order for committal may be made only by a Queen’s Bench Divisional Court. Paragraph 1.1 of Practice Direction (Family Proceedings: Committal), providing that a committal application could be made where the contempt is in connection with existing family proceedings, other than contempt in the face of the court, is inconsistent with RSC Order 52 rule 1(2), and a practice direction cannot override a rule. There ought to be jurisdiction to deal with such a case in the county court and the Civil Procedure Committee would no doubt wish to consider that jurisdiction when it gets round to modernising RSC Order 52 and CCR Order 29.