Contempt

This law is principally concerned with maintaining the authority of our judicial system, and to ensure that a person’s right to a fair trial is not put in jeopardy by media coverage. The law seeks to restrain a tendency towards “trial by media”.

The law of contempt restricts what can be published once a person has been charged with an offence and comes within the court system. Its role is to ensure that media comment does not prejudice a jury against a defendant. For example, it would be a clear contempt to publish a person’s previous convictions before a verdict is reached in a particular case.

It is also a contempt to publish a name which has been suppressed by a court.

See Burrows J and Cheer U, 2005, Media Law in New Zealand, Melbourne, Oxford University Press.