- 18 A - legislature has imposed in the criminal statute; determination of guilt of the offender by a civil court in the contempt B A B proceedings without the safeguards in a criminal trial; double C jeopardy which the offender may have to face if after punishment for contempt he were to be prosecuted in a D C D criminal court, the power – though proved useful on occasions E – is one of great delicacy and is one to be used with caution.28 F E F (2) G It is open to the legislature to impose legislative measures to tackle the problem. In B & Q, ibid, Lord Templeman observed that where the legislature imposes a penalty for an H G H offence, the legislature must consider that the penalty is I adequate and it can increase the penalty if it proves to be inadequate; and that it follows that the local authority should J I J be reluctant to seek and the court should be reluctant to grant K an injunction which if disobeyed may involve the infringer in sanctions far more onerous than the penalty imposed for the L offence. M L After referring to Lord Wilberforce’s observation in Gouriet, his Lordship said that “there must certainly be something more than infringement before the assistance of N K M N civil proceedings can be invoked and accorded for the O protection or promotion of the interests of the inhabitants of P Q (3) the area.” P Subject to the legislation in question, the criminal law should, Q ordinarily speaking, be the primary means of enforcement. R O R As Bingham LJ in Bovis at p 714b-c reasoned, where the S legislature has shown a clear intention that the criminal law T T 28 U V S Similar concerns were expressed by Viscount Dilhorne at pp 490H-491B; Lord Diplock at pp 498F-500C; and Lord Fraser of Tullybelton at p 521C-E. U V

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