Cite as: 512 U. S. 821 (1994)
Opinion of Ginsburg, J.
tional" and "coercive," would so broaden the compass of those terms that their line-drawing function would be lost.*
Second, the Virginia courts' refusal to vacate the fines, despite the parties' settlement and joint motion, see ante, at 825-826, is characteristic of criminal, not civil, proceedings. In explaining why the fines outlived the underlying civil dispute, the Supreme Court of Virginia stated: "Courts of the Commonwealth must have the authority to enforce their orders by employing coercive, civil sanctions if the dignity of the law and public respect for the judiciary are to be maintained." 244 Va. 463, 478, 423 S. E. 2d 349, 358 (1992). The Virginia court's references to upholding public authority and maintaining "the dignity of the law" reflect the very purposes Gompers ranked on the criminal contempt side. See supra, at 844-845. Moreover, with the private complainant gone from the scene, and an official appointed by the Commonwealth to collect the fines for the Commonwealth's coffers, it is implausible to invoke the justification of benefiting the civil complainant. The Commonwealth here pursues the fines on its own account, not as the agent of a private party, and without tying the exactions exclusively to a claim for compensation. Cf. Hicks, 485 U. S., at 632 ("[A] fine . . . [is] punitive when it is paid to the court," but "remedial" or "civil" "when the defendant can avoid paying the fine simply by performing the affirmative act required by the court's order."). If, as the trial court declared, the proceedings
*Bagwell further likens the prospective fines schedule to the civil contempt fine imposed in United States v. Mine Workers, 330 U. S. 258 (1947). In that case, however, the contemnor union was given an opportunity, after the fine was imposed, to avoid the fine by "effect[ing] full compliance" with the injunction. As the Court explains, see ante, at 830, n. 4, for purposes of allowing the union to avoid the fine, "full compliance" with the broad no-strike injunction, see 330 U. S., at 266, n. 12, was reduced to the performance of three affirmative acts. This opportunity to purge, consistent with the civil contempt scenario described in Gompers, see supra, at 844, was unavailable to the unions in this case.
847
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