§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLI beg to ask Mr. Attorney General whether he is aware that the Lord Chief Justice of England, in delivering judgment in the Queen's Bench Division in the case of Payne v. Cooper, in April, 1896, stated that applications for committal for contempt of court had been much too numerous, and that in some instances the decisions had gone too far; and that Mr. Justice Wright, his Lordship's colleague on the bench, expressed his concurrence in these remarks; and whether, having regard to the fact that so far back as 1882 legislation on the subject of committal for contempt of court was announced as a Government measure, and that the power of committal for contempt of court is not subject to appeal or supervision, and is uncontrolled by the prerogative of pardon, the Government will take into consideration the propriety at an early date of proposing legislation with a view to the definition and limitation of this power.
§ SIR RICHARD WEBSTERThe answer to the first paragraph of the hon. and learned Member's question is in the affirmative. The rules which govern questions of contempt of court are well understood, and there is not, in my opinion, any necessity for legislation.