Art. 227 Punishment for contempt

Courts can only punish someone for contempt if the law specifically says that behavior counts as contempt. A judge can't just decide on their own that something is contemptuous and punish it. The misconduct has to match what the law already defines as contempt of court.

If someone is found guilty of contempt, the punishment they can face is spelled out in a different law, Louisiana Revised Statute 13:4611. That statute lists the actual penalties, like fines or jail time, that a court can hand down.

In short, this rule protects people from being punished based on a judge's personal opinion about what counts as disrespectful or improper behavior. It requires the misconduct and the punishment to both be grounded in written law, not just a judge's discretion.