Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Preface
- Preface to the first edition of ‘The Machinery of Justice in England’
- Abbreviations
- I Historical introduction
- II Civil jurisdiction
- 4 Civil law and criminal law
- 5 County courts
- 6 The High Court
- 7 The mode of trial
- 8 Complaints about the civil courts
- 9 The enforcement of judgments and orders
- 10 The Civil Division of the Court of Appeal and the House of Lords
- 11 The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
- 12 Arbitration
- III Tribunals
- IV Criminal jurisdiction
- V The personnel of the law
- VI The European dimension
- VII The cost of the law
- VIII Law Reform
- Appendix A The Report of the Civil Justice Review
- Table of Cases cited
- Table of Statutes cited
- Table of Stationery Office publications cited
- Index
9 - The enforcement of judgments and orders
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 January 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Preface
- Preface to the first edition of ‘The Machinery of Justice in England’
- Abbreviations
- I Historical introduction
- II Civil jurisdiction
- 4 Civil law and criminal law
- 5 County courts
- 6 The High Court
- 7 The mode of trial
- 8 Complaints about the civil courts
- 9 The enforcement of judgments and orders
- 10 The Civil Division of the Court of Appeal and the House of Lords
- 11 The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
- 12 Arbitration
- III Tribunals
- IV Criminal jurisdiction
- V The personnel of the law
- VI The European dimension
- VII The cost of the law
- VIII Law Reform
- Appendix A The Report of the Civil Justice Review
- Table of Cases cited
- Table of Statutes cited
- Table of Stationery Office publications cited
- Index
Summary
Some judgments are merely declaratory and need no enforcement-like a decree of divorce, for example. Generally, however, a judgment against a defendant requires him to do or refrain from doing something, and if he fails to comply the plaintiff has to take further legal action to make him do so – a process rather dramatically known as ‘proceeding to execution’. If the court has granted the plaintiff one of the equitable remedies, such as an injunction restraining the defendant from molesting the plaintiff or forbidding him to publish a defamatory statement, or an order of specific performance requiring the defendant to perform his contract, the defendant's refusal to obey is a contempt of court for which he may, on the application of the plaintiff, be committed to prison until he ‘purges his contempt’. Usually the court directs committal to prison, suspending the operation for a short time so that the party in default may have an opportunity of obeying the directions of the court. As an alternative to prison, such a defendant may be fined for contempt, or the court may order sequestrators to seize his property until he obeys. Injunctions, orders for specific performance and so forth are exceptional, however, and most judgments are money judgments, under which the defendant is ordered to pay a sum of money in damages or to meet a debt.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Jackson's Machinery of Justice , pp. 86 - 89Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1989