A clerk employed to audit the books of a firm of law-agents communicated to the inland revenue the contents of a document which belonged to a client of the firm, and which had come into his possession solely in the capacity of auditor. The document was a statement of the client’s annual profits considerably in excess of the returns actually made by him to the Inland Revenue.
In an action raised by the client against the clerk, held that by divulging the contents of the paper in question to a third party the defender had infringed the pursuer’s right of property in the document, and therefore that the pursuer was entitled to interdict and damages.
Per Lord M’Laren-‘I have never heard or read that the duty of assisting the Treasury in the collection of the public revenue was of such a paramount nature that it must be carried out by private individuals at the cost of the betrayal of confidence and the invasion of the proprietary rights of other people.’
Judges:
Lord Stormonth Darling, Ordinary
Citations:
[1898] SLR 35 – 877
Links:
Jurisdiction:
Scotland
Legal Professions
Updated: 25 October 2022; Ref: scu.612267