Contempt of the Sovereign (also called contempt of statute) was an ancient doctrine in English law dating from medieval times, and now obsolete. It referred to the notion that if somebody disobeyed an Act of Parliament, but the Act did not say what the penalty was or how the Act was to be enforced, then that person was guilty of a criminal offence under common law (although the crime itself was not called contempt). This doctrine was based on the idea that an Act of Parliament was an expression of the Sovereign's will, enacted with the "advice and consent" of Parliament. In modern legislation and jurisprudence it has become the rule that contravening a statute is not a crime unless the statute expressly says so in clear terms, and so the doctrine has long since lapsed. However the law does still exist, and the last time it was used was in 1840.
Contempt of the Sovereign is not to be confused with lèse majesté.
Famous quotes containing the words contempt of, contempt and/or sovereign:
“Grow your tree of falsehood from a small grain of truth.
Do not follow those who lie in contempt of reality.
Let your lie be even more logical than the truth itself,
So the weary travelers may find repose.”
—Czeslaw Milosz (b. 1911)
“I do not like football, which I think of as a game in which two tractors approach each other from opposite directions and collide. Besides, I have contempt for a game in which players have to wear so much equipment. Men play basketball in their underwear, which seems just right to me.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)
“If these were only words that I am speaking
Indifferent sounds and not the heraldic-ho
Of the clear sovereign that is reality,
Of the clearest reality that is sovereign,
How should I repeat them, keep repeating them....”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)