A witness before the commissioner in my referred proceeding is refusing to obey a subpoena the commissioner issued, and also refusing to testify — does the commissioner have any real power to do anything about that, since a commissioner isn't a judge?

The commissioner's authority is borrowed from the appointing court

A commissioner is not a judge and has no independent contempt power, but Section 7 solves that by treating defiance of the commissioner's subpoena, or refusal to testify, as contempt of the court that made the appointment. This borrowing of authority is what lets a commissioner's proceedings function with real force, even though the commissioner personally has no power to punish anyone for contempt. The actual contempt proceeding, if one becomes necessary, still has to be brought before the appointing court itself, which retains sole authority to hear the matter and impose whatever appropriate sanction it finds fitting under the actual circumstances of the case. The commissioner's own role is limited to reporting the defiance to that court; the commissioner cannot cite the witness directly.

What specifically counts as contempt

Refusing to obey a subpoena the commissioner issued, or refusing to give evidence before the commissioner once appearing, both trigger this provision. Either kind of defiance, whether it happens before the witness even shows up or after they are already seated before the commissioner, is treated the same way under this section — both are equally deemed contempt of the appointing court, with no meaningful legal distinction drawn between the two different situations at all. A witness who appears but then refuses specific questions once before the commissioner falls within the same rule as one who ignores the subpoena outright and never appears at all.

Why this backing matters

Without it, witnesses could simply ignore a commissioner with no real consequence. Tying the defiance to the appointing court's contempt power gives the referred proceeding the same practical teeth as testimony taken directly before the judge. This matters especially for complex cases referred to commissioners for accounting or fact-finding, where uncooperative witnesses could otherwise stall the proceeding indefinitely with no real risk to themselves. Making the consequence real, and tied to an authority that actually has the power to enforce it, is what keeps a commissioner's referral genuinely useful rather than merely advisory in practice. It also binds every witness called before the commissioner, not only parties to the case, since the reference derives its force from the court's own compulsory process.

Related provisions

• Rule 32, Section 7 — Refusal of witness
• Rule 32, Section 3 — Order of reference; powers of the commissioner