I’ve got at least a rudimentary understanding of the violation, as it were: The court deems you worthy of penalty due to the behavior you have exhibited toward the dignity and authority of the court.
But I’ve always felt challenged when I’ve tried to parse the meaning of the phrase “contempt of court.” Is the court saying “Your behavior is evidence that you hold this court in contempt,” or “Due to your behavior, this court holds you in contempt.”?
Or is there some other way of translating the use of the word “contempt” into something that we speakers of mere English might comprehend?
Thanks in advance for any answers (not needed fast, btw, so take your time).
It is about a lot more than dignity and authority. In the UK the laws relating to what is contempt run to hundreds of pages and half a dozen Acts. The essence, it seems to me, is that you are in contempt if you do anything at all that interferes with a trial. These days, tweeting from a jury room is contempt, just as much as threatening a witness outside the court.
It would appear that insubordination is an ACT of disobeying authority, where contumacy is the “condition” of doing so regularly, repeatedly, stubbornly.