D. Remedies for Contempt

Tex. Gov't Code ยง 21.001(a) gives courts the inherent power to maintain control of court proceedings and enforce lawful orders through the power of contempt. Although all contempt proceedings are quasi-criminal, it is the character of the relief which the proceeding will afford that defines the proceeding as civil or criminal.[47] On a finding of contempt, the court may respond to the contempt by applying the civil/coercive remedy sanction, or the criminal/punitive sanction, or a combination of both.