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Utah Code § 78B-6-301

Acts and omissions constituting contempt

Applied in 16 court decisions — leading case 2012 UT App 328 - Clarke v. Clarke (2012)

Most recently applied in 2023 UT App 16 - Knowlton v. Knowlton (February 2023)

Renumbered and Amended by Chapter 3, 2008 General Session

How often courts cite this section

20102020202340
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

The following acts or omissions in respect to a court or its proceedings are contempts of the authority of the court:

(1) disorderly, contemptuous, or insolent behavior toward the judge while holding the court, tending to interrupt the course of a trial or other judicial proceeding;

(2) breach of the peace, boisterous conduct or violent disturbance, tending to interrupt the due course of a trial or other judicial proceeding;

(3) misbehavior in office, or other willful neglect or violation of duty by an attorney, counsel, clerk, sheriff, or other person appointed or elected to perform a judicial or ministerial service;

(4) deceit, or abuse of the process or proceedings of the court, by a party to an action or special proceeding;

(5) disobedience of any lawful judgment, order or process of the court;

(6) acting as an officer, attorney or counselor, of a court without authority;

(7) rescuing any person or property that is in the custody of an officer by virtue of an order or process of the court;

(8) unlawfully detaining a witness or party to an action while going to, remaining at, or returning from, the court where the action is on the calendar for trial;

(9) any other unlawful interference with the process or proceedings of a court;

(10) disobedience of a subpoena duly served, or refusing to be sworn or to answer as a witness;

(11) when summoned as a juror in a court, neglecting to attend or serve, or improperly conversing with a party to an action to be tried at the court, or with any other person, concerning the merits of an action, or receiving a communication from a party or other person in respect to it, without immediately disclosing the communication to the court; and

(12) disobedience by an inferior tribunal, magistrate or officer of the lawful judgment, order or process of a superior court, or proceeding in an action or special proceeding contrary to law, after the action or special proceeding is removed from the jurisdiction of the inferior tribunal, magistrate or officer. Disobedience of the lawful orders or process of a judicial officer is also a contempt of the authority of the officer.

Official source: Utah State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Utah statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.