Section 476.110

Title XXXII COURTS

Chapter 476

Effective - 28 Aug 1939   

  476.110.  Acts constituting contempt of court. — Every court of record shall have power to punish as for criminal contempt persons guilty of:

  (1)  Disorderly, contemptuous or insolent behavior committed during its session, in its immediate view and presence, and directly tending to interrupt its proceeding or to impair the respect due to its authority;

  (2)  Any breach of the peace, noise or other disturbance directly tending to interrupt its proceedings;

  (3)  Willful disobedience of any process or order lawfully issued or made by it;

  (4)  Resistance willfully offered by any person to the lawful order or process of the court;

  (5)  The contumacious and unlawful refusal of any person to be sworn as a witness, or, when so sworn, to refuse to answer any legal and proper interrogatory.

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(RSMo 1939 § 2028)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 1864; 1919 § 2359; 1909 § 3881

(1951) The procuring of false testimony and presentation of same in trial in court impedes and obstructs justice and constitutes contempt. Osborne v. Purdome (Mo.), 244 S.W.2d 1005, 29 A.L.R.2d 1141.

(1951) Practice known as "purgation by oath" under which contemnor was entitled to release upon denial of charges under oath, has never been the law in Missouri. Osborne v. Purdome (Mo.), 244 S.W.2d 1005, 29 A.L.R.2d 1141.

(1951) Contempt complaint, filed by prosecuting attorney, and signed by reputable attorneys as amici curiae, need not be verified. Osborne v. Purdome (Mo.), 244 S.W.2d 1005, 29 A.L.R.2d 1141.

(1953) Prosecution for criminal contempt held barred after one year under § 541.210. Ponick v. Purdome (A.), 254 S.W.2d 673.

(1954) Prosecution for criminal contempt based on subornation of prejury is not a criminal case and is not barred by the one year statute of limitations. (Quashing writs of Court of Appeals in Ponick v. Owsley, 254 S.W.2d 673, and Osborne v. Owsley, 254 S.W.2d 676.) Osborne v. Owsley, 364 Mo. 544, 264 S.W.2d 332.

(1954) Where magistrate orally ordered sheriff to produce prisoner held without warrant and sheriff refused, magistrate court had jurisdiction to cite sheriff for contempt. State ex rel.  Cunningham v. Leavitt (A.), 271 S.W.2d 63.

(1955) Where circuit judge cited judges of county court and then committed them for contempt for failure to order payment of salary of deputy circuit clerk as authorized by such circuit judge, he was not so entirely without jurisdiction as to be civilly liable for damages to the county judges. Pogue v. Swink, 365 Mo. 503, 284 S.W.2d 868.

(1976) Proceedings to cite defendant for contempt for failure to pay court ordered support and maintenance held to be civil contempt proceedings. Teefey v. Teefey (Mo.), 533 S.W.2d 563.