Note

Why Contempt Is Different: Agency Costs and "Petty Crime" in Summary Contempt Proceedings

112 Yale L.J. 1223 (2003)

For as long as they have existed, contempt proceedings have been the source of significant controversy, their necessity and abuse hotly contested by the legal community, the legislature, and the judiciary. The raw, unchecked power of summary contempt--the ability of a judge …