A.R.S. 12-864 Example Case

In Ex parte Quan, 39 Ariz. 13, 15, 3 P.2d 522, 524 (1931) the Arizona Supreme Court reviewed the procedures that attached to a charge of "constructive contempt, that is, one committed without the presence of the court." Following the predecessor to A.R.S. 12-864 and other precedent, the court held that such a charge should "be punished in conformity to the practice and usage of the common law." Id. at 16, 3 P.2d at 524 (quoting . Ariz Rev. Code 4474 (1928), predecessor to A.R.S. 12-864, and citing Ex parte Wright, 36 Ariz. 8, 281 P. 944 (1929), and Van Dyke v. Superior Court, 24 Ariz. 508, 211 P. 576 (1922)). With regard to the common-law procedures attendant to such a contempt charge, the court cited authority from other jurisdictions to support its conclusion that "the common-law mode of proceeding in cases of contempt presents no question of fact to be tried by a jury," id. at 18, 3 P.2d at 524 (quoting Hudson County Quarter Sessions v. Verdon, 90 N.J.L. 494, 102 A. 66, 68 (N.J. 1917)), and noted that this proposition "was not, and cannot be, questioned." Id.