“An inferior court which attempts to punish a contempt committed out of court is clearly a usurper trying to clothe itself with a jurisdiction its very nature or origin denies it; or is assuming an authority its very constitution bereft it of”—so says Kpegah J (as he then was) in Republic v District Court Grade I, Dunkwa-On-Offin; Ex Parte Owusu. The case draws a stark line between contempt of court which takes place in the face of the court known as contempt in facie curiae and contempt which takes place outside the court known as ex facie curiae. According to the holding, lower courts can only punish the former as an inherent right but the latter is only inherent in superior courts. The author traces the underlying reasons for the regime of contempt of court in a bid to assess Kpegah J’s holding. The literature and judicial development in other Common Law territories reveal that the respected judge was behind his time by some one hundred years. The present writer thus urges the Legislature to atone for the wrong done to lower courts by conferring this all-important power on them.
