Word: decorum
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...contempt, the instant enforcer that empowers a judge to maintain order by acting as prosecutor, chief witness, judge, jury and sentencer. The power goes back to the days when judges were representatives of the King and had the authority to enforce respect for the monarch's "divine right." Decorum can work in a defendant's favor by preventing unruly behavior that might prejudice the jury against him. Yet Hoffman, in meting out more than 17 years' worth of contempt sentences, apparently tried to get around a Supreme Court decision that requires a jury trial whenever...