Courtrooms are places for formality, serious demeanors, and overall exemplary behavior. As it happens, many people in fiction are either engage in Courtroom Antics or are too much of a sore loser that they can't stand to hear their court rival's arguments or accept the judge's verdict in silence.
Soon enough, as (sometimes perceived) unfairness mounts, the character begins to interrupt the judge, talk over the attorney, or otherwise make a nuisance of themselves. The judge might let one such instance pass, but after that, they'll demand for the courtroom's sanctity to be preserved until they threaten to get the offender removed altogether if they step out of the line again. It can get as far as the judge ordering for the courtroom to be cleared, particularly if it's the onlookers who are stirring the pot.
Continuing to disturb the procedure is sometimes akin to Tempting Fate. Whether the character is actually kicked out of the place depends on many factors, but it's often a signal of the trial's drama to have reached its climax. When the judge doesn't favor such drastic measures just yet, they'd probably call for a recess instead.
Alternatively, it can be the punchline of a joke about a flatulent judge.
Contrast Courtroom Antics, when breaking court etiquette doesn't get this reaction. See also Unconventional Courtroom Tactics, when court drama is used to win the case, and Kangaroo Court, a sham trial with a predetermined verdict.
Examples:
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Creators
- Dave Barry: In one of his newspaper columns, he parodies this trope. After the defendant despairs over their Cool and Unusual Punishment of admiring modern dance, the judge threatens them with "order[ing] you to also watch the performance artist who protests apartheid using a bathtub full of rigatoni".
Fan Works
- Escape from the Moon: In chapter 29, Spliced gets threatened with being charged with contempt of court due to repeatedly disrupting the trial. She makes her own contempt for the court known in her thoughts.
- Herding Cats: From Tavros in chapter 15 when they hold a trial on Nepeta. The others were just trying to get her to admit her feelings, therefore making the trial a mockery that rightfully irks Tavros, the one presiding over it.
- My Brave Pony: Starfleet Magic: Ace Ray's characterization as a Jerkass leads to him behaving abhorribly on his own trial for trying to hit Starfleet. For one, he lunges to attack the judge. When Skye testifies that Nightmare Moon enslaved her brother at one point, Ace can't take it anymore and becomes hostile. The judge calls him out on this and threatens to kick him out.
- Turnabout Storm: In Part 2, Twilight repeatedly accuses Phoenix of slander and lies during a trial. Trixie, who is the judge, warns her she'll be found in contempt again and again if she doesn't stop.
Films — Live-Action
- Liar Liar: After a civil trial that goes disastrously wrong because he can't tell a lie, Fletcher Reed realizes he has an out through the truth. An instant before the judge issues a ruling, Reed, amends from "I have no further witnesses" to "I call [my client] to the stand". The resulting hubbub in the courtroom is not ended by the judge's several cries for order; Reed manages to quiet them with an irritated "Knock it off!" The judge is not impressed, instructs Reed to sit down, and then:
Judge Stevens: Mr. Reed, it is out of sheer morbid curiosity I'm allowing this... freak show to continue.
- A Time to Kill: Happens twice. Once after Carl is badgered into shouting "Yeah, they deserved to die and I hope they burn in hell!" and once after the unintentional victim of his shootout says he agrees with the main character's actions and that they should "turn him loose!"
Literature
- Where the Crawdads Sing: The defense exposes arguments about how the town's people are judging the so-called Marsh Girl so harshly because of their own prejudice —they perceive her as a weirdo and not really part of their community, not to mention an unhealthy dose of sexism. This leads to increasing outrage among the aforementioned people, who made a ruckus before when Kya is brought by the police officers. When they start yelling insults, the judge gets fed up and threatens of kicking out everyone but defense attorney, the accused, and the prosecutor.
Live-Action TV
- Harry's Law: Harry has to get on a soapbox about something at least once per episode.
- JAG:
- In "Heroes", the judge delivers a threat to get Harm removed after he fires an MP-5 in the courtroom.
- In "Killer Instinct", they provoke the pedantic defendant into a rage as part of an Engineered Public Confession that gets him threatened to be removed from the courtroom.
- Law & Order:
- "Life Line": Fed up, the judge yells "One more outburst like that and I'll clear this courtroom!". There's a subsequent outburst and the judge clears the courtroom, as promised. Unfortunately, neither of the troublemakers — both obvious gang members making death threats towards the testifying witness — is led out in handcuffs.
- "America, Inc.": When Goldberg learns that the man yelling about 'them getting his son killed' is Vernon (aka Robbie's father), he threatens him with jail time if he has another outburst.
- Monty Python's Flying Circus: Parodied in the "Spam". "If there's any more Stock Footage of women applauding, I shall clear the court!"
- Soap: During Jessica's murder trial since her entire family disturbs the court. The judge is referring to the time Jessica ignores a question, runs up to the jury after she recognised one of them, and starts dancing and singing their dance routine together. It doesn't start to get serious after that point.
Theatre
- Inherit the Wind: Drummond's brush with a contempt charge. This also happened in the real trial, but in a far more subdued manner than in the play.
Visual Novels
- Ace Attorney: An essential part of the games. Your life meter represents the judge's temper; objecting to perfectly fine comments or presenting irrelevant evidence pushes the judge, who will happily end the trial early and find a defendant guilty just because Phoenix is being petulant. Occasionally used in-story too, usually to get a character thrown out on contempt of court. In the series, you're guilty unless proven innocent, so if the defense shows itself unable to come up with anything except Unconventional Courtroom Tactics, then there's no point in continuing.
Webcomics
- General Protection Fault: In "Man vs. Mold", Mercedes objects to the news (for her) of Trent having previously been convicted of murder because her plaintiff didn't have the courtesy to tell her said evidence. The judge rebukes her that it's not a valid argument and tells her he'll hold her in contempt if she does that again.
Web Videos
- The Trial Of Tim Heidecker: Judge Szymczyk gives several final warnings to Tim for his behavior in court. Tim doesn't change his behavior and gets hit with two "contempt of court" charges.
Western Animation
- Western Animation/Dinosaucers: In "Scales of Justice", the judge's verdict causes Rex to smash the prosecutors. He's told that if he does one more outburst, then he'll be held for contempt.
- It's a Mystery, Charlie Brown: Lucy Van Pelt uses it word for word at the end of a "trial" where she decides that Woodstock can have his nest back from Sally Brown.
- Teen Titans Go!: In "A Farce", the Titans' tendency to go off-topic when giving their testimonies — use of superpowers, mutual taunting, and overall making a circus of the procedure — causes the Brain, who is already biased against them, to threaten to kick them out of the courtroom a couple of times.
