P.R. Laws tit. 33, § 517

2019-02-21
§ 517. Criminal contempt of court or Industrial Commission

The Supreme Court, the Court of First Instance, the District Court, and any court of record duly established in Puerto Rico, and the Industrial Commission of Puerto Rico, shall have the power to punish for criminal contempt any person guilty of any of the following acts:

(1) Breach of the peace, noise, or other disturbance directly tending to interrupt its proceedings, or disorderly, contemptuous or insolent conduct towards a court or a justice thereof, or the Industrial Commission of Puerto Rico constituted by all or some of its members, in its presence or during its session and tending to interrupt its proceedings, or in the presence of a jury, while it is actually sitting or deliberating in any case.

(2) Wilful disobedience of, or resistance offered to or exerted against, any lawful writ, mandate or order issued or made by any such court in a suit or action pending therein, or against any order issued by the Industrial Commission of Puerto Rico in connection with any proceedings pending before it.

(3) Scurrilous or libelous criticism of the orders, judgments, writs, or proceedings of any court, including the Industrial Commission of Puerto Rico, published in any public print or newspaper or circular for circulation, tending to bring the court or any of its members into undeserved disrepute.

(4) The unlawful or contumacious refusal of any person to be sworn or properly qualified as a witness in any cause pending in such court or before the Industrial Commission of Puerto Rico, or, after being sworn or qualified, the refusal, without lawful excuse, to answer any legal interrogatory.

(5) The wilful publication of any false or grossly inaccurate report of judicial or quasi-judicial proceedings; Provided, however, That the publication of any true and fair report of any judicial proceeding shall not be punishable as a contempt.

History —Mar. 1, 1902, p. 83, § 1; Mar. 8, 1906, p. 41, § 1; May 12, 1937, No. 102, p. 241, eff. 90 days after May 12, 1937.