Matter of Bleakley v. Schlesinger

The issue here is whether a corporate officer may be committed for contempt as provided in section 406 of the Civil Practice Act for refusing to produce certain corporate books shown to have been last seen in his possession on the ground that he is unable to do so, such officer having declined to answer questions calculated to explain his inability to produce for the reason that the answers might tend to degrade or incriminate him.

The circumstances creating the question are briefly summarized as follows:

On January 4, 1943, the Governor of the State, pursuant to section 8 of the Executive Law,…