Category: Media

CG v Facebook Ireland Ltd and Another: CANI 21 Dec 2016

The court was asked as to the liability in damages of information society services, in this case Facebook, for misuse of private information as a result of postings on their sites by third parties. The postings divulged historic sexual ffending.
Held: With the passage of time the protection of an offender by prohibiting the disclosure of previous convictions may be such as to outweigh the interests of open justice.

Judges:

Morgan LCJ Gillen LJ and Weatherup LJ

Citations:

[2016] NICA 54

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Data Protection Act 1998 5

Jurisdiction:

Northern Ireland

Cited by:

Cited – NT 1 and NT 2 v Google Llc QBD 13-Apr-2018
Right to be Forgotten is not absolute
The two claimants separately had criminal convictions from years before. They objected to the defendant indexing third party web pages which included personal data in the form of information about those convictions, which were now spent. The claims . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Information, Media

Updated: 05 April 2022; Ref: scu.605154

Regina v Border Television Ltd, Ex parte Attorney-General: QBD 18 Jan 1978

The defendant media company was found guilty of contempt for reporting that the defendant had pleaded guilty at the outset of her trial to a number of other charges against her. No warning had been given.

Citations:

Times 18-Jan-1978, (1978) 68 Cr App R 375

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Attorney-General v Leveller Magazine Ltd HL 1-Feb-1979
The appellants were magazines and journalists who published, after committal proceedings, the name of a witness, a member of the security services, who had been referred to as Colonel B during the hearing. An order had been made for his name not to . .
Cited – Independent Publishing Company Limited v The Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago, The Director of Public Prosecutions PC 8-Jun-2004
PC (Trinidad and Tobago) The newspapers had been accused of contempt of court having reported matters in breach of court orders, and the editors committed to prison after a summary hearing: ‘In deciding whether . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Media

Updated: 05 April 2022; Ref: scu.182821

GYH v Persons Unknown (Responsible for The Publication of Webpages): QBD 19 Dec 2017

Application without notice to the defendant for an interim non-disclosure order to restrain what she alleges is a campaign of harassment. The campaign consists mainly of the publication of various items or categories of personal information or purported information about the claimant. These include allegations that the claimant has HIV/AIDS, and other information or purported information about her sexual life, and her physical and mental health. It is the claimant’s case that the allegation that she has HIV/AIDS is false, as is some of the other information about her.

Judges:

Warby J

Citations:

[2017] EWHC 3360 (QB)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Protection from Harassment Act 1997

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Media, Torts – Other

Updated: 02 April 2022; Ref: scu.602138

Spain v Commission – C-81/16: ECJ 20 Dec 2017

Competition – State Aid Competition – State Aid – Appeal – State aid – Digital television – Aid for the deployment of digital terrestrial television in remote and less urbanised areas – Subsidies granted to operators of digital terrestrial television platforms – Decision declaring the aid incompatible in part with the internal market – Concept of ‘State aid’ – Advantage – Service of general economic interest – Definition – Discretion of the Member States

Citations:

C-81/16, [2017] EUECJ C-81/16P

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

European

European, Media

Updated: 02 April 2022; Ref: scu.602113

Telefonica v Commission: ECJ 13 Dec 2017

Judgment – Appeal – Agreements, decisions and concerted practices – Portuguese and Spanish telecommunications markets – Non-compete clause contained in an agreement concluded between two companies – Restriction by object – Rights of the defense – Refusal to hear witnesses – Fines – Gravity of the infringement – Mitigating circumstances

Citations:

ECLI:EU:C:2017:961, [2017] EUECJ C-487/16

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

European

Commercial, Media

Updated: 02 April 2022; Ref: scu.602115

Comunidad Autonoma Del Pais Vasco and Itelazpi v Commission: ECJ 20 Dec 2017

Competition – State Aid – Appeal – State aid – Digital television – Aid for the deployment of digital terrestrial television in remote and less urbanised areas – Subsidies granted to operators of digital terrestrial television platforms – Decision declaring the aid incompatible in part with the internal market – Concept of ‘State aid’ – Advantage – Service of general economic interest – Definition – Discretion of the Member States

Citations:

C-66/16, [2017] EUECJ C-66/16P

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

European

Media, Commercial

Updated: 02 April 2022; Ref: scu.602078

HRH Louis Xavier Marie Guillaume Prince of Luxembourg, Prince of Nassau and Prince of Bourbon-Parma v HRH Tessy Princess of Luxembourg, Princess of Nassau and Princess of Bourbon-Par: FD 5 Dec 2017

After financial relief hearings, W sought an order allowing limited further disclosures to counteract what she said was misleading reportage

Citations:

[2017] EWHC 3095 (Fam), [2017] WLR(D) 820

Links:

Bailii, WLRD

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Family, Media

Updated: 02 April 2022; Ref: scu.601946

Commission v Tv2/Danmark (State Aid – Public Broadcasting Service): ECJ 9 Nov 2017

Judgment – Appeal – State aid – Article 107(1) TFEU – Public broadcasting service – Measures implemented by the Danish authorities in favour of the Danish broadcaster TV2/Danmark – Concept of ‘aid granted by a Member State or through State resources’

Citations:

C-656/15, [2017] EUECJ C-656/15

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

European

Media

Updated: 01 April 2022; Ref: scu.599672

Re Webster (A Minor): FD 23 Feb 2007

Judges:

Holman J

Citations:

[2007] EWHC 549 (Fam)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Webster (the Parents) v Norfolk County Council and others CA 11-Feb-2009
Four brothers and sisters had been adopted after the parents had been found to have abused them. The parents now had expert evidence that the injuries may have been the result of scurvy, and sought leave to appeal.
Held: Leave was refused. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children, Media

Updated: 01 April 2022; Ref: scu.254467

Fair Trading Commission v Digicel Jamaica Ltd and Another: PC 24 Aug 2017

Jamaica – The Board was asked as to the power of the Jamaican Fair Trading Commission to intervene in a merger in the market for voice communications and text messaging services

Judges:

Lord Mance, Lord Clarke, Lord Sumption, Lord Hodge,Lord Carloway

Citations:

[2017] UKPC 28

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Commercial, Consumer, Media

Updated: 29 March 2022; Ref: scu.593588

Persidera SpA v Authority for the Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni and Others: ECJ 26 Jul 2017

(Judgment) Reference for a preliminary ruling – Electronic communications – Telecommunications services – Directives 2002/20 / EC, 2002/21 / EC and 2002/77 / EC – Equal treatment – Determination of the number of digital radio frequencies to be granted to each operator already holding analogue radio frequencies – Taking into account analogue radio frequencies used illegally – Correspondence between the number of analogue radio frequencies held and the number of digital radio frequencies obtained

Citations:

C-112/16, [2017] EUECJ C-112/16, [2017] EUECJ C-112/16_O

Links:

Bailii, Bailii

Jurisdiction:

European

Media, Licensing

Updated: 28 March 2022; Ref: scu.591337

Markham and Another v Regina: CACD 9 Jun 2017

Judicial review of decision to publicise the name of a young person accused of a crime.

Judges:

Sir Brian Leveson Q QBD, Blake, Lewis JJ

Citations:

[2017] EWCA Crim 739

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Youth and Criminal Justice Act 1999 45, Children and Young Persons Act 1933 39

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Criminal Practice, Children, Media

Updated: 27 March 2022; Ref: scu.588233

Makin v News Group Newspapers Ltd: ChD 12 Jun 2017

The solicitor and proposed executor of the will of the infamous Moors Murder sought an injunction to prevent the publication by the defendant newspaper of the terms of the will, alleging that the information had been received in breach of confidence. The court now gave reasons for refusal of the application.
Held: ‘i) there was a public interest in the fact that the will contained details of a book which Brady had apparently written about his crimes which he wanted published;
ii) there was obviously no risk that publication would cause detriment to Brady or his reputation;
iii) the will would have to be made public in due course in any even
iv) publication would not cause any material further prejudice to Mr. Makin in relation to the difficulties which he faced in making arrangements for Brady’s funeral. There had already been intense media speculation and interest in that regard;
v) there was a risk of significant loss and damage to The Sun if I granted the injunction, because it would have to stop, or make significant changes to its publication processes, if I were to require the article to be removed from the newspaper; and
vi) as executor, Mr. Makin had no significant assets from Brady’s estate with which to meet any cross-undertaking as to damages.

Judges:

Snowden J

Citations:

[2017] EWHC 1386 (Ch)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Media, Wills and Probate, Intellectual Property

Updated: 27 March 2022; Ref: scu.588214

Giggs v Giggs: FD 17 Feb 2017

The parties, both famous, were divorcing. In financial remedy proceedings, they now sought restrictions on the publication of the financial details of the applications.
Held: Granted as to financial details.

Judges:

Cobb J

Citations:

[2017] EWHC 822 (Fam)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Family, Media, Human Rights

Updated: 24 March 2022; Ref: scu.582026

Verband Sozialer Wettbewerb v DHL Paket Gmbh: ECJ 30 Mar 2017

ECJ Judgment : Unfair Business Practices – Advertisement In A Print Medium – Omission of Material Information – Reference for a preliminary ruling – Unfair business practices – Advertisement in a print medium – Omission of material information – Access to that information via the website by means of which the products concerned are distributed – Products sold by the person who published the advertisement or by a third party

Citations:

ECLI:EU:C:2017:243, [2017] EUECJ C-146/16, [2017] WLR(D) 227

Links:

Bailii, WLRD

Jurisdiction:

European

Media

Updated: 24 March 2022; Ref: scu.581709

Stunt v Associated Newspapers Ltd: QBD 6 Apr 2017

The Court was asked whether section 32(4) of the Act, which provides in certain circumstances for an automatic stay of proceedings in respect of journalistic materials (amongst others), is incompatible with EU law.
Held: The sub section forms an important part of the protection of the rights of freedom of expression. A greater need is to be shown to allow prior restraint of a journalists publicatuon, and therefore there was nothing in section 32(4) which failed to give effect to the Directive. The claim was to be stayed.

Judges:

Popplewell J

Citations:

[2017] EWHC 695 (QB), [2017] WLR(D) 251

Links:

Bailii, WLRD

Statutes:

Data Protection Act 1988 32(4), Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Directive 95/46/EC

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Information, European, Media

Updated: 24 March 2022; Ref: scu.581697

Blackman, Regina v (Media): CACD 28 Mar 2017

The defendant officer appealed against his conviction for murder. Whilst serving a s an officer in Afghanistan, he had killed a captured soldier. That conviction had been quashed and a conviction for manslaughter on diminished responsibility substituted.
Held: The court now gave reason why it had refused to allow republication in the media of video evidence of the offence.

Citations:

[2017] EWCA Crim 326

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

See Also – Blackman, Regina v CACD 22-May-2014
The appellant had been convicted of murder. As an Army sergeant serving in Afghanistan, he had killed a captured insurgent. . .
See Also – Blackman, Regina v CACD 15-Mar-2017
The defendant appealed against his conviction for murder. As an army officer serving in Afghanistan he had killed an injured captured insurgent.
Held: The defendant had at the time of the offence suffered a recognised psychiatric condition, . .

Cited by:

See Also – Blackman, Regina v (Sentence) CACD 28-Mar-2017
Sentence – manslaughter of prisoner
The defendant whilst serving in Afghanistan had killed a prisoner. His appeal against his conviction for murder had been successful, and a conviction for manslaughter had been substituted on the basis that he was at the time suffering a recognised . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Evidence, Media

Updated: 24 March 2022; Ref: scu.581277

Initial Services Ltd v Putterill: CA 1967

The plaintiff’s sales manager resigned, but took with him confidential documents which he gave to a newspaper. The defendant sought to justify this, saying that the company had failed to register agreements it should have done under the Act.
Held: The media might make disclosure of material which would otherwise be protected by commercial confidence where it was intended to expose iniquity or other misconduct falling short of iniquity. Discussing Gartside -v- Outram, the principle is not limited to where a master was guilty of fraud or a crime, but extended to ‘misconduct of such a nature that it ought in the public interest to be disclosed to others . . Provided that the discolsure is in the public interest’ Wood V-C: ‘There is no confidence as to the disclosure of iniquity.’
Salmon LJ said: `I do not think that the law would lend assistance to anyone who is proposing to commit and to continue to commit a clear breach of a statutory duty imposed in the public interest.’ but but ‘what was iniquity in 1856 may be too narrow or . . too wide for 1967’

Judges:

Lord Denning MR, Wood V-C, Salmon LJ

Citations:

[1967] 3 All ER 145, [1968] 1 QB 396

Statutes:

Restrictive Trade Practices Act 1956

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Gartside v Outram 1856
An employee was told by his master ‘I am going to falsify these sales notes and deceive the customers. You are not to say anything about it to anyone.’ He thereafter falsified the sale notes.
Held: The servant was entitled to say: ‘I am not . .
Cited – Annesley v Earl of Anglesea 1743
‘no private obligations can dispense with that universal one which lies on every member of the society to discover every design which may be formed, contrary to the laws of the society, to destroy the public welfare.’ . .

Cited by:

Cited – British Steel Corporation v Granada Television Ltd HL 7-May-1980
The defendant had broadcast a TV programme using material confidential to the plaintiff, who now sought disclosure of the identity of the presumed thief.
Held: (Lord Salmon dissenting) The courts have never recognised a public interest right . .
Cited – Hyde Park Residence Ltd v Yelland, News Group Newspapers Ltd, News International Ltd, Murrell CA 10-Feb-2000
The court considered a dispute about ownership and confidence in and copyright of of video tapes taken by Princess Diana before her death.
Held: The courts have an inherent discretion to refuse to enforce of copyright. When assessing whether . .
Cited – Lion Laboratories Ltd v Evans CA 1985
Lion Laboratories manufactured and marketed the Lion Intoximeter which was used by the police for measuring blood alcohol levels of motorists. Two ex-employees approached the Press with four documents taken from Lion. The documents indicated that . .
Cited – Vickerstaff v Edbro Plc CA 28-Jan-1997
The appellant’s employment had terminated in circumstances where he had threatened to publicise matters about the defendant’s activities, but had failed to co-operate with the company in investigating his allegations by particularising them.
Cited – Terry (previously LNS) v Persons Unknown QBD 29-Jan-2010
The claimant (then known as LNS) had obtained an injunction to restrain publication of private materials.
Held: There was insufficient material to found an action in confidence or privacy. An applicant was unlikely to succeed either at an . .
Cited – In re A (A Minor) FD 8-Jul-2011
An application was made in care proceedings for an order restricting publication of information about the family after the deaths of two siblings of the child subject to the application. The Sun and a local newspaper had already published stories . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Litigation Practice, Media, Intellectual Property

Updated: 23 March 2022; Ref: scu.193353

Attorney-General v Mulholland: CA 1963

The court rejected a claim for protection from disclosure of matters passing between journalists and their sources: ‘it is said that however these questions were and however proper to be answered for the purpose of this inquiry, a journalist has a privilege by law entitling him to refuse to give his sources of information’ and ‘It seems to me that the journalists put the matter much too high. The only profession that I know which is given the privilege from disclosing information to a court of law is the legal profession, and then it is not the privilege of the lawyer but of his client. Take the clergyman, the banker or the medical man. None of these is entitled to refuse to answer when directed by a judge. Let me not be mistaken. The judge will respect the confidences which each member of these honourable professions receives in the course of it, and will not direct him to answer unless not only it is relevant but also it is a proper and, indeed, necessary question in the course of justice to be put and answered. A judge is the person entrusted, on behalf of the community, to weigh these conflicting interests – to weigh on the one hand the respect due to confidence in the profession and on the other hand the ultimate interest of the community in justice being done or, in the case of a tribunal such as this, in a proper investigation being made into these serious allegations. If a judge determines that the journalist must answer, then no privilege will avail him to refuse.’

Judges:

Lord Denning MR

Citations:

[1963] 1 All ER 767, [1963] 2 QB 477

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – British Steel Corporation v Granada Television Ltd HL 7-May-1980
The defendant had broadcast a TV programme using material confidential to the plaintiff, who now sought disclosure of the identity of the presumed thief.
Held: (Lord Salmon dissenting) The courts have never recognised a public interest right . .
Cited – D v National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children HL 2-Feb-1977
Immunity from disclosure of their identity should be given to those who gave information about neglect or ill treatment of children to a local authority or the NSPCC similar to that which the law allowed to police informers.
Lord Simon of . .
Cited – Prudential Plc and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v Special Commissioner of Income Tax and Another SC 23-Jan-2013
The appellants resisted disclosure to the revenue of advice it had received. It claimed legal advice privilege (LAP), though the advice was from its accountants.
Held: (Lords Sumption and Clarke dissenting) LAP applies to all communications . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Media, Legal Professions

Updated: 23 March 2022; Ref: scu.193357

Steen v Her Majesty’s Attorney General; Attorney-General v Punch Ltd and Another: CA 23 Mar 2001

The appellant appealed against a finding of contempt of court at common law as regards a report in Punch published when he had been its editor.
Held: The appeal succeeded. The A-G had failed to establish the mens rea of contempt in the appellant.
The issue boiled down to whether an injunction could bind a third party. Lord Phillips MR summarised the principles: ‘a) Intentional interference with the manner which a judge is conducting a trial can amount to a contempt of court.
b) When in the course of a trial a judge makes an order with the purpose of furthering some aspect of the conduct of the trial, a third party who, with knowledge of that purpose, intentionally acts in such a way as to defeat that purpose can be in contempt of court.
c) When a plaintiff brings an action to preserve an alleged right of confidentiality in information and the court makes an order that the information is not to be published pending trial, the purpose of the order is to protect the confidentiality of the information pending trial. A third party who, with knowledge of the order, publishes the information and thereby destroys its confidentiality will commit a contempt of court. The contempt is committed not because the third party is in breach of the order – the order does not bind the third party. The contempt is committed because the purpose of the judge in making the order is intentionally frustrated with the consequence that the conduct of the trial is disrupted.’

Judges:

Lord Phillips MR, Simon Brown, Longmore LJJ

Citations:

Times 30-Mar-2001, Gazette 24-May-2001, [2001] EWCA Civ 403, [2001] EMLR 24, [2001] 2 All ER 655, [2001] QB 1028, [2001] 2 WLR 1713

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Attorney-General v Times Newspapers Ltd HL 1991
Injunctions had been granted to preserve the status quo in proceedings brought to prevent the publication of the book ‘Spycatcher’. The defendants published extracts, and now appealed a finding that they had acted in contempt.
Held: The . .
Cited – London Borough of Harrow v Johnstone HL 13-Mar-1997
A possession action was lawful against a remaining joint tenant after a notice to terminate the tenancy had been given by the other tenant. An order against interference with possession of property did not extend to matters of the duration of the . .
Cited – Lord Wellesley v The Earl Of Mornington 5-May-1848
By the terms of an injunction A, B. was restrained, but it did not extend to his servants and agents. A motion to commit his agent CD for breach of the injunction.
Held: Irregular ; but, semble, that he might be proceeded against for ‘a . .
Cited – Attorney-General v Newspaper Publishing plc CA 1987
The court explained the common law basis of the law of contempt of court. Lloyd LJ said: ‘Since the test of contempt is not a breach of the order but interference with the administration of justice, it follows that at common law a contempt may be . .
Cited – Attorney-General v Guardian Newspapers Ltd (No 2) (‘Spycatcher’) HL 13-Oct-1988
Loss of Confidentiality Protection – public domain
A retired secret service employee sought to publish his memoirs from Australia. The British government sought to restrain publication there, and the defendants sought to report those proceedings, which would involve publication of the allegations . .
Cited – Seaward v Paterson CA 16-Feb-1897
The plaintiff had obtained a permanent injunction restraining the defendant, his tenant, from interfering with the quiet enjoyment of the plaintiff and other tenants living in the vicinity of the demised premises. The plaintiff successfully moved to . .
Cited – Z Ltd v A-Z and AA-LL CA 1982
The plaintiffs, an overseas company with an office in London had been defrauded here. They sought and obtained Mareva injunctions against defendants and against six clearing banks. The banks sought clarification of their duties.
Held: The . .

Cited by:

Appeal from – Her Majesty’s Attorney General v Punch Limited and another HL 12-Dec-2002
A former MI5 agent, Mr Shayler, was to be prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act, and an injunction against publication was granted. The respondent published further works by Mr Shayler, and now appealed a finding that it had acted in contempt of . .
Cited – Jockey Club v Buffham QBD 13-Sep-2002
A court had issued a final order with an injunction against the respondent against revealing matters becoming known to him during his employment by the claimant. The BBC sought a variation to allow it to broadcast material based upon that documents . .
Cited – Cala Homes (South) Ltd, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and Another CA 27-May-2011
The respondent had circularised local authorities to say that when assessing future local housing needs a proper material consideration was the proposed Localism Bill which would lead to the replacement of ‘Regional Spatial Strategies’ on which such . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Contempt of Court, Media

Updated: 23 March 2022; Ref: scu.135526

The Football Association Premier League Ltd v British Telecommunications Plc and Others: ChD 13 Mar 2017

The association sought an order requiring the defendant broadband suppliers to block streaming services which operated to breach their intellectual property rights in the broadcast of football matches.

Judges:

Arnold J

Citations:

[2017] EWHC 480 (Ch)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Intellectual Property, Media

Updated: 09 February 2022; Ref: scu.579949

Handyside v The United Kingdom: ECHR 7 Dec 1976

Freedom of Expression is Fundamental to Society

The appellant had published a ‘Little Red Schoolbook’. He was convicted under the 1959 and 1964 Acts on the basis that the book was obscene, it tending to deprave and corrupt its target audience, children. The book claimed that it was intended to teach school children about sex, including recommending the use of pornography.
Held: The Court’s supervisory functions oblige it to pay the utmost attention to the principles characterising a ‘democratic society’. Freedom of expression, as protected by Art 10(1), is one of the essential foundations of a democratic society. Freedom of speech was not applicable only to inoffensive material, but also extends to protect activity in the nature of protests which others may find shocking, disturbing, or offensive: ‘Such are the demands of that pluralism, tolerance and broad-mindedness without which there is no democratic society.’
The right to freedom of expression includes the right to ‘offend, shock and disturb.’
However: ‘it is not possible to find in the domestic law of the various contracting states a uniform European conception of morals. The views taken by their respective laws of the requirements of morals varies from time to time and from place to place, especially in our era which is characterised by a rapid and far-reaching evolution of opinions on the subject. By reason of their direct and continuous contact with the vital forces of their countries, state authorities are in principle in a better position than the international judge to give an opinion on the exact content of these requirements as well as on the ‘necessity’ of a ‘restriction’ or ‘penalty’ intended to meet them.’

Citations:

5493/72, (1976) 1 EHRR 737, [1976] ECHR 5

Links:

Worldlii, Bailii

Statutes:

European Convention on Human Rights 1 10, Obscene Publications Act 1959, Obscene Publications Act 1964

Jurisdiction:

Human Rights

Cited by:

Cited – Benjamin, Vanderpool and Gumbs v The Minister of Information and Broadcasting and The Attorney General for Anguilla PC 14-Feb-2001
PC (Anguilla) A first non-religious radio station had been formed, but came to include much criticism of the government. One programme was suspended by the government. The programme makers complained that this . .
Cited – Redmond-Bate v Director of Public Prosecutions Admn 23-Jul-1999
The police had arrested three peaceful but vociferous preachers when some members of a crowd gathered round them threatened hostility.
Held: Freedom of speech means nothing unless it includes the freedom to be irritating, contentious, . .
Cited – Percy v Director of Public Prosecutions Admn 21-Dec-2001
The defendant had been convicted of using words or behaviour likely to cause harassment alarm or distress, when she defaced the US flag, and stood on it before a US military officer. She said that the defacing of flags was a common form of protest, . .
Cited – Goldstein, Rimmington v Regina CACD 28-Nov-2003
Two defendants appealed in respect of alleged offences under common law of causing a public nuisance. One had sent race hatred material, and the other bomb hoaxes, through the post. Both claimed that the offence was so ill defined as to be an . .
Cited – Nilsen, Regina (on the Application of) v Governor of HMP Full Sutton and Another Admn 19-Dec-2003
The prisoner complained that having written an autobiography, the manuscript materials had been withheld, and that this interfered with his rights of freedom of expression.
Held: Such an action by the prison authorities was not incompatible . .
Cited – Evans v Amicus Healthcare Ltd and others CA 25-Jun-2004
The applicant challenged the decision of the court that the sperm donor who had fertilised her eggs to create embryos stored by the respondent IVF clinic, could withdraw his consent to their continued storage or use.
Held: The judge worked . .
Cited – A v Secretary of State for the Home Department, and X v Secretary of State for the Home Department HL 16-Dec-2004
The applicants had been imprisoned and held without trial, being suspected of international terrorism. No criminal charges were intended to be brought. They were foreigners and free to return home if they wished, but feared for their lives if they . .
Cited – Dow Jones and Co Inc v Jameel CA 3-Feb-2005
Presumption of Damage in Defamation is rebuttable
The defendant complained that the presumption in English law that the victim of a libel had suffered damage was incompatible with his right to a fair trial. They said the statements complained of were repetitions of statements made by US . .
Cited – Interfact Ltd and Another v Liverpool City Council Admn 23-May-2005
The defendants, operators of licensed sex shops, appealed convictions for offences under the Act. The shops had supplied videos rated R*18 by mail order from the shops. The Trading Standards Officer said this did not satisfy the requirement that . .
Cited – Axon, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Health and Another Admn 23-Jan-2006
A mother sought to challenge guidelines issued by the respondent which would allow doctors to protect the confidentiality of women under 16 who came to them for assistance even though the sexual activities they might engage in would be unlawful.
Cited – Laporte, Regina (on the application of ) v Chief Constable of Gloucestershire HL 13-Dec-2006
The claimants had been in coaches being driven to take part in a demonstration at an air base. The defendant police officers stopped the coaches en route, and, without allowing any number of the claimants to get off, returned the coaches to London. . .
Cited – Mersey Care NHS Trust v Ackroyd CA 21-Feb-2007
The defendant journalist had published confidential material obtained from the claimant’s secure hospital at Ashworth. The hospital now appealed against the refusal of an order for him to to disclose his source.
Held: The appeal failed. Given . .
Cited – Financial Times Ltd and Others v The United Kingdom ECHR 15-Dec-2009
The claimants said that an order that they deliver up documents leaked to them regarding a possible takeover violated their right to freedom of expression. They complained that such disclosure might lead to the identification of journalistic . .
Cited – Regina v Shayler HL 21-Mar-2002
The defendant had been a member of the security services. On becoming employed, and upon leaving, he had agreed to keep secret those matters disclosed to him. He had broken those agreements and was being prosecuted. He sought a decision that the . .
Cited – David Wilson v Procurator Fiscal, Glasgow HCJ 2-Sep-2005
. .
Cited – Dehal v Crown Prosecution Service Admn 27-Sep-2005
The appellant had been convicted under section 4 of the 1986 Act. He had been accused of attending at Luton Guruwarda and intending to cause distress. He said that he had gone only peacefully to express his true religious beliefs. He had left a . .
Cited – Axon, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Health and Another Admn 23-Jan-2006
A mother sought to challenge guidelines issued by the respondent which would allow doctors to protect the confidentiality of women under 16 who came to them for assistance even though the sexual activities they might engage in would be unlawful.
Cited – Laporte, Regina (on the application of ) v Chief Constable of Gloucestershire HL 13-Dec-2006
The claimants had been in coaches being driven to take part in a demonstration at an air base. The defendant police officers stopped the coaches en route, and, without allowing any number of the claimants to get off, returned the coaches to London. . .
Cited – Norris v United States of America and others; (Goldshield Group plc intervening) Admn 25-Jan-2007
The defendant was the former chief executive of a company manufacturing carbon products internationally. His extradition to the US was sought on the basis that he had conspired in a dishonest price-fixing conspiracy.
Held: The secrecy of such . .
Cited – Moss and Coleman Solicitors v Kordowski Nom 1-Feb-2007
The claimant solicitors sought transfer to them of a domain name registered by the defendant using their name and criticising them. . .
Cited – Connolly v Director of Public Prosecutions Admn 15-Feb-2007
The defendant appealed against her conviction under the Act for having sent indecent or grossly offensive material through the post in the form of pictures of an aborted foetus sent to pharmacists. She denied that they were offensive, or that she . .
Cited – Mersey Care NHS Trust v Ackroyd CA 21-Feb-2007
The defendant journalist had published confidential material obtained from the claimant’s secure hospital at Ashworth. The hospital now appealed against the refusal of an order for him to to disclose his source.
Held: The appeal failed. Given . .
Cited – Bysermaw Properties Ltd v Revenue and Customs SCIT 8-Nov-2007
SCIT Penalties for failure to file an end of year return of subcontractors by the due date – section 98A TMA 1970 – whether calculation of penalty in Appellant’s case in breach of Article 1 Protocol 1 of the . .
Cited – AG (Eritrea) v Secretary of State for the Home Department CA 20-Nov-2007
The threshold requirement referable to the nature of the consequences was ‘not a specially high one’
Sedley LJ discussed the Huang case: ‘The effect of their Lordships’ decision (and, if we may say so, the intended effect of this court’s . .
Cited – Ofulue and Another v Bossert CA 29-Jan-2008
The claimants appealed an order finding that the defendant had acquired their land by adverse possession. They said that the defendant had asserted in defence to possession proceedings that they were tenants, and that this contradicted an intent to . .
Cited – In re P and Others, (Adoption: Unmarried couple) (Northern Ireland); In re G HL 18-Jun-2008
The applicants complained that as an unmarried couple they had been excluded from consideration as adopters.
Held: Northern Ireland legislation had not moved in the same way as it had for other jurisdictions within the UK. The greater . .
Cited – Gillies v Procurator Fiscal, Elgin HCJ 1-Oct-2008
The police went to the defendant’s flat to find her boyfriend. She refused them access, but when they saw him, the police officers called out that he was under arrest under the 1995 Act, and forced their way past the door and the defendant. The . .
Cited – Donaldson, Re Judicial Review CANI 3-Apr-2009
. .
Cited – Child X (Residence and Contact- Rights of Media Attendance) (Rev 2) FD 14-Jul-2009
The father applied to the court to have the media excluded from the hearing into the residence and contact claims relating to his daughter.
Held: It was for the party seeking such an order to justify it. In deciding whether or not to exclude . .
Cited – SRM Global Master Fund Lp and Others v Her Majesty’s Treasury CA 28-Jul-2009
The claimants appealed rejection of their claim for compensation as shareholders on the rescue of Northern Rock plc. . .
Cited – Novartis Pharmaceuticals UK Ltd and Others v Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (‘SHAC’) and Others QBD 30-Oct-2009
. .
Cited – Bayer Cropscience Ltd and Another v Stop Huntingdon Cruelty (‘SHAC’) and Others QBD 22-Dec-2009
. .
Cited – Gaunt v OFCOM and Liberty QBD 13-Jul-2010
The claimant, a radio presenter sought judicial review of the respondent’s finding (against the broadcaster) that a radio interview he had conducted breached the Broadcasting Code. He had strongly criticised a proposal to ban smokers from being . .
Cited – Whaley, Friend v The Lord Advocate for Judicial Review of the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002 SCS 20-Jun-2003
. .
Cited – Norwood v Director of Public Prosecutions Admn 3-Jul-2003
The appellant a BNP member had displayed a large poster in his bedroom window saying ‘Islam out of Britain’. He was convicted of an aggravated attempt to cause alarm or distress. The offence was established on proof of several matters, unless the . .
Cited – PS, Regina (on the Application of) v Responsible Medical Officer, Dr G and others Admn 10-Oct-2003
The claimant had been compulsorily detained under the Act. He complained that the detention and compulsory medication infringed his rights, and amongst other things breached his religious beliefs.
Held: This was an exceptional case requiring . .
Cited – Adams, Murray, Holman-Baird, Plummer, The Fife Hunt, Campbell Gilmour, the Chairman and Master thereof the Buccleuch Hunt Supports Club and others v Scottish Ministers OHCS 28-May-2004
. .
Cited – Pabari v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions-And-Nilesh Pabari CA 10-Nov-2004
Housing Costs as part of child support assessment. The court considered the interpretation of the word ‘necessary’, saying that the Court must not qualify the word ‘necessary’ by reference to what might be regarded as reasonable. The word . .
Cited – B, Regina (on the Application of) v Dr SS and others Admn 31-Jan-2005
The claimant was a mental patient detained for a bipolar dis-order after convictions for rape. . .
Cited – McLellan v Bracknell Forest Borough Council; Reigate Borough Council v Benfield and Another CA 16-Oct-2001
The tenant was issued with a notice to quit for unpaid rent, within the first year, during an ‘introductory tenancy.’ She sought judicial review on the basis that the reduced security of tenure infringed her human rights.
Held: Review was . .
Cited – Regina v Perrin CACD 22-Mar-2002
The defendant had been convicted of publishing obscene articles for gain under the Act. He lived in London, and published a web site which was stored or hosted abroad, containing pornographic items. The investigating officer had called up the . .
Cited – Adams and Others v Lord Advocate IHCS 31-Jul-2002
(Opinion) The applicants challenged the introduction of restrictions of hunting by foxes, arguing that the law would infringe their human rights.
Held: The Act was not infringing. Fox hunting as such was not a private activity protected by the . .
Cited – N, Regina (On the Application of) v M and Others Admn 24-Sep-2002
The patient challenged the decision of her doctors to administer anti-psychotic medicine for the prevention or for the alleviation of her psychotic illness, to which she did not consent. . .
Cited – Hadiova v Secretary of State for the Home Department CA 9-May-2003
. .
Cited – Ferdinand v MGN Limited QBD 29-Sep-2011
The claimant, a famous footballer, complained that an article by the defendant relating an affair he had had, had infringed his right to privacy. The defendant relied on its right to freedom of expression. The claimant had at an earlier stage, and . .
Cited – British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v Ahmad Admn 11-Jan-2012
The BBC wished to interview the prisoner who had been detained pending extradition to the US since 2004, and now challenged decision to refuse the interview.
Held: The claim succeeded. The decision was quashed and must be retaken. If ever any . .
Cited – City of London v Samede and Others QBD 18-Jan-2012
The claimant sought an order for possession of land outside St Paul’s cathedral occupied by the protestor defendants, consisting of ‘a large number of tents, between 150 and 200 at the time of the hearing, many of them used by protestors, either . .
Cited – Seckerson and Times Newspapers Ltd v The United Kingdom ECHR 24-Jan-2012
The first applicant had been chairman of a jury and had expressed his concerns about their behaviour to the second applicant who published them. They were prosecuted under the 1981 Act. They had said that no details of the deliberations had been . .
Cited – Kirk Session of Sandown Free Presbyterian Church, Re Judicial Review QBNI 22-Mar-2011
Ban on Gay Condemnation was Infringement
The church claimant was prohibited by the ASA from publishing a one page advert in a national newspaper condemning homosexuality. As well as stating that ‘the act of sodomy is a grave offence’ and ‘an abomination’, the banned advert had encouraged . .
Cited – Core Issues Trust v Transport for London Admn 22-Mar-2013
The claimant sought judicial review of the decision made by TfL not to allow an advertisement on behalf of the Trust to appear on the outside of its buses. It was to read: ‘NOT GAY! EX-GAY, POST-GAY AND PROUD. GET OVER IT!’. The decision was said to . .
Cited – Otto-Preminger-Institut v Austria ECHR 20-Sep-1994
Balance of Religious Tolerance and Freedom
The Institut operated a cinema. It announced a showing of a film ‘Das Liebenconzil’. Proceedings were brought against it, on complaint by the Roman Catholic Church, in which it was accused of ‘disparaging religious doctrine’. The film was seized . .
Followed – Marckx v Belgium ECHR 13-Jun-1979
Recognition of illegitimate children
The complaint related to the manner in which parents were required to adopt their own illegitimate child in order to increase his rights. Under Belgian law, no legal bond between an unmarried mother and her child results from the mere fact of birth. . .
Cited – Recovery of Medical Costs for Asbestos Diseases (Wales) Bill (Reference By The Counsel General for Wales) SC 9-Feb-2015
The court was asked whether the Bill was within the competence of the Welsh Assembly. The Bill purported to impose NHS charges on those from whom asbestos related damages were recovered.
Held: The Bill fell outside the legislative competence . .
Cited – Miller v The College of Policing CA 20-Dec-2021
Hate-Incident Guidance Inflexible and Unlawful
The central issue raised in the appeal is the lawfulness of certain parts of a document entitled the Hate Crime Operational Guidance (the Guidance). The Guidance, issued in 2014 by the College of Policing (the College), the respondent to this . .
Cited – DA and Others, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions SC 15-May-2019
Several lone parents challenged the benefits cap, saying that it was discriminatory.
Held: (Hale, Kerr LL dissenting) The parents’ appeals failed. The legislation had a clear impact on lone parents and their children. The intention was to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Human Rights, Media

Leading Case

Updated: 07 February 2022; Ref: scu.164876

Gaunt v OFCOM and Liberty: QBD 13 Jul 2010

The claimant, a radio presenter sought judicial review of the respondent’s finding (against the broadcaster) that a radio interview he had conducted breached the Broadcasting Code. He had strongly criticised a proposal to ban smokers from being foster parents, criticising the interviewee (author of the ban) as a Health Nazi, and otherwise insulting him. It was gratuitously offensive. The claimant, despite a later apology, was dismissed.
Held: The request for review failed. OFCOM’s conclusion was justified. The 2003 Act placed on OFCOM a duty to secure the application by all television and radio stations of standards that provide adequate protection to members of the public from the inclusion of ‘offensive and harmful material’, and to draw up a Code of practice for this purpose. The Code applied ‘generally accepted standards’.
The claimant’s comments degenerated into mere abuse without political content, and was highly offensive. ‘The subject of the interview was political and controversial and the person interviewed was an elected politician who would expect to receive and tolerate a rough ride. The expressions complained of were not essentially statements of fact, but expressions of value or opinion. It was therefore an interview where the claimant’s freedom of expression should be accorded a high degree of protection and that was capable of extending to offensive expression.
His freedom of expression may not however extend to gratuitous offensive insult or abuse, nor, we think, to repeated abusive shouting which serves to express no real content. We take gratuitously offensive insult or abuse to comprise offensive insult or abuse which has no contextual content or justification.’

Judges:

Blair J P

Citations:

[2010] EWHC 1756 (QB), [2011] ACD 17, [2010] HRLR 31, [2011] 1 WLR 663

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Broadcasting Act 1990 6(1)(a), Communications Act 2003 3(2)(e), European Convention on Human Rights 10, Human Rights Act 1998 6

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Regina v Shayler HL 21-Mar-2002
The defendant had been a member of the security services. On becoming employed, and upon leaving, he had agreed to keep secret those matters disclosed to him. He had broken those agreements and was being prosecuted. He sought a decision that the . .
Cited – Handyside v The United Kingdom ECHR 7-Dec-1976
Freedom of Expression is Fundamental to Society
The appellant had published a ‘Little Red Schoolbook’. He was convicted under the 1959 and 1964 Acts on the basis that the book was obscene, it tending to deprave and corrupt its target audience, children. The book claimed that it was intended to . .
Cited – Scharsach and News Verlagsgesellschaft v Austria ECHR 13-Nov-2003
Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Violation of Art. 10 ; Pecuniary damage – financial award (second applicant) ; Non-pecuniary damage – financial award (first applicant) ; Non-pecuniary damage – . .
Cited – Lingens v Austria ECHR 8-Jul-1986
Freedom of expression, as secured in paragraph 1 of Article 10, constitutes one of the essential foundations of a democratic society and one of the basic conditions for its progress and for each individual’s self-fulfilment. Subject to paragraph 2, . .
Cited – McLellan v Bracknell Forest Borough Council; Reigate Borough Council v Benfield and Another CA 16-Oct-2001
The tenant was issued with a notice to quit for unpaid rent, within the first year, during an ‘introductory tenancy.’ She sought judicial review on the basis that the reduced security of tenure infringed her human rights.
Held: Review was . .
Cited – Oberschlick v Austria ECHR 23-May-1991
A journalist was convicted by a court which regarded itself as bound by the opinion of the court of appeal which had remitted his case to the lower court for trial after it had been dismissed by that court. The judge who presided over the court of . .
Cited – Secretary of State for the Home Department v Nasseri HL 6-May-2009
The applicant had claimed asylum after fleeing Afghanistan to Greece and then to the UK. On the failure of his application, he would be returned to Greece, but objected that he would thence be returned to Afghanistan where his human rights would be . .
Cited – Otto-Preminger-Institut v Austria ECHR 20-Sep-1994
Balance of Religious Tolerance and Freedom
The Institut operated a cinema. It announced a showing of a film ‘Das Liebenconzil’. Proceedings were brought against it, on complaint by the Roman Catholic Church, in which it was accused of ‘disparaging religious doctrine’. The film was seized . .
Cited – Animal Defenders International, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport HL 12-Mar-2008
The applicant, a non-profit company who campaigned against animal cruelty, sought a declaration of incompatibility for section 321(2) of the 2003 Act, which prevented adverts with political purposes, as an unjustified restraint on the right of . .
Cited – De Haes and Gijsels v Belgium ECHR 24-Feb-1997
The court emphasised that the press plays an essential role in a democratic society. The court trenchantly observed ‘It is incumbent on the press to impart information and ideas of public interest. Not only does the press have the task of imparting . .
Cited – Lindon, Otchakovsky-Laurens and July v France ECHR 22-Oct-2007
ECHR (Grand Chamber) The court emphasised the public interest in protecting the reputation of those in public life. Regardless of the forcefulness of political struggles, it is legitimate to try to ensure that . .
Cited – Belfast City Council v Miss Behavin’ Ltd HL 25-Apr-2007
Belfast had failed to license sex shops. The company sought review of the decision not to grant a licence.
Held: The council’s appeal succeeded. The refusal was not a denial of the company’s human rights: ‘If article 10 and article 1 of . .
Cited – Gorelishvili v Georgia ECHR 5-Jun-2007
. .
Cited – Janowski v Poland ECHR 21-Jan-1999
Hudoc Reports of Judgments and Decisions 1999-I . .
Cited – Redmond-Bate v Director of Public Prosecutions Admn 23-Jul-1999
The police had arrested three peaceful but vociferous preachers when some members of a crowd gathered round them threatened hostility.
Held: Freedom of speech means nothing unless it includes the freedom to be irritating, contentious, . .
Cited – Livingstone v The Adjudication Panel for England Admn 19-Oct-2006
The claimant challenged a finding that as Mayor of London offensive remarks he had made to a journalist as he was pursued leaving a private party had brought his office into disrepute.
Held: The appeal succeeded. Though the remarks may have . .
Cited – Lopes Gomes Da Silva v Portugal ECHR 28-Sep-2000
The court distinguished between expressions of polemical political opinion and gratuitous personal attacks with no factual basis. . .
Cited – Monnat v Switzerland ECHR 21-Sep-2006
. .
Cited – Malisiewicz-Gasior v Poland ECHR 6-Apr-2006
. .
Cited – Dichand And Others v Austria ECHR 26-Feb-2002
Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Violation of Art. 10; Pecuniary damage – financial award; Costs and expenses award – domestic proceedings; Costs and expenses partial award – Convention . .
Cited – Begum (otherwise SB), Regina (on the Application of) v Denbigh High School HL 22-Mar-2006
The student, a Muslim wished to wear a full Islamic dress, the jilbab, but this was not consistent with the school’s uniform policy. She complained that this interfered with her right to express her religion.
Held: The school’s appeal . .
Cited – Regina v Secretary of State for Health ex parte Quintavalle (on behalf of Pro-Life Alliance) HL 13-Mar-2003
Court to seek and Apply Parliamentary Intention
The appellant challenged the practice of permitting cell nuclear replacement (CNR), saying it was either outside the scope of the Act, or was for a purpose which could not be licensed under the Act.
Held: The challenge failed. The court was to . .
Cited – Murphy v Ireland ECHR 10-Jul-2003
A pastor attached to an evangelical protestant centre based in Dublin wished to broadcast an advertisement during the week before Easter 1995, but the broadcast was stopped by the Independent Radio and Television Commission because section 10(3) of . .

Cited by:

Appeal from – Gaunt, Regina (on The Application of) v The Office of Communications CA 24-Jan-2011
The applicant sought leave to appeal against a finding that his radio talk show interview with a councillor regarding the policy of not permitting foster parents who smoked was so vehement as to be a breach of the respondent’s Code. The divisional . .
Appeal from – Gaunt, Regina (on The Application of) v The Office of Communications CA 17-Jun-2011
The claimant appealed against rejection of his challenge to a determination of the respondent that a radio interview he conducted had been in breach of the Broadcasting Code. He said that the finding was an undue interference in his freedom of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Media, Human Rights

Updated: 06 February 2022; Ref: scu.420706

Official Solicitor v News Group Newspapers: FD 1994

There had been a conviction of a nurse for multiple murders. The defendant was approached by a third party and published evidence taken from children’s proceedings.
Held: The defendant was guilty of contempt.

Judges:

Connell J

Citations:

[1994] 2 FLR 174

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Kent County Council v The Mother, The Father, B (By Her Children’s Guardian); Re B (A Child) (Disclosure) FD 19-Mar-2004
The council had taken the applicant’s children into care alleging that the mother had harmed them. In the light of the subsequent cases casting doubt on such findings, the mother sought the return of her children. She applied now that the hearings . .
Cited – Kelly (A Minor) v British Broadcasting Corporation FD 25-Jul-2000
K, aged 16, had left home to join what was said to be a religious sect. His whereabouts were unknown. He had been made a ward of court and the Official Solicitor was appointed to represent his interests. He had sent messages to say that he was well . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Media, Family, Contempt of Court

Updated: 03 February 2022; Ref: scu.194850

Newman v Southampton City Council and Others: FD 5 Aug 2020

Application by a professional journalist who seeks a disclosure order which, if granted, will enable her to see the court file and other materials relating to public law care proceedings which concluded in October 2018.

Judges:

Mrs Justice Roberts

Citations:

[2020] EWHC 2103 (Fam), [2020] 4 WLR 108, [2020] WLR(D) 473

Links:

Bailii, WLRD

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

See Also – Newman v Southampton City Council and Others (Costs and PTA) FD 5-Aug-2020
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children, Media

Updated: 01 February 2022; Ref: scu.655289

Re X Children: FD 27 Jan 2017

In the course of children proceedings, the mother had died in unexplained circumstances within the precinct of the court. The court now made consequesntial orders.

Judges:

Jeremy Richardson HHJ

Citations:

[2017] EWHC 120 (Fam)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Media

Updated: 31 January 2022; Ref: scu.575293

A and Others, Regina (on the Application of) v Lord Saville of Newdigate and others: CA 28 Jul 1999

Former soldiers who had been involved in the events in Londonderry in 1972, and were to be called to give evidence before a tribunal of inquiry, still had cause to fear from their names being given, and so were entitled to anonymity when giving such evidence. The need for openness at such an inquiry did not outweigh the protection needed. After such a long time, some names were known already to those who wanted them. Lord Woolf MR ‘What is important to note is that when a fundamental right such as the right to life is engaged, the options available to the reasonable decision-maker are curtailed. They are curtailed because it is unreasonable to reach a decision which contravenes or could contravene human rights unless there are sufficiently significant countervailing considerations. In other words it is not open to the decision-maker to risk interfering with the fundamental rights in the absence of compelling justification. Even the broadest discretion is constrained by the need for there to be countervailing circumstances justifying interference with human rights. The courts will anxiously scrutinise the strength of the countervailing circumstances and the degree of the interference with the human right involved and then apply the test accepted by Sir Thomas Bingham MR in R v Ministry of Defence ex parte Smith [1996] QB 517 which is not in issue.’ and ‘Although all three judgments in the Divisional Court gave very careful consideration to the issues which are before us, in a case of this sort, the outcome of this appeal involves our having to analyse the second decision of the tribunal afresh. We have to form our own judgment as to whether it is flawed on the grounds of unfairness or lack of reasonableness.”

Judges:

Lord Woold MR, Robert Walker LJ, Tuckey LJ

Citations:

Times 29-Jul-1999, [1999] EWCA Civ 3012, [2000] 1 WLR 1855, [1999] 4 All ER 860

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Tribunals of Inquiry (Evidence) Act 1921 2

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – Regina v Right Honourable Lord Saville of Newdigate Sir Edward Somers Justice William Hoyt (Sitting As Saville Inquiry) (ex parte A; B; D; H; J; K; M; O; Q; R; S; U; V; Z and Ac and Ad) Admn 17-Jun-1999
. .
Cited – Regina v Governor of Pentonville Prison, Ex parte Fernandez: Fernandez v Government of Singapore HL 1971
Test for police protection need
The court considered the degree of risk to an individual which should give rise to a duty on the police to protect him under article 2.
Held: Lord Diplock said: ‘My Lords, bearing in mind the relative gravity of the consequences of the court’s . .
Cited – Regina v Secretary of State for Defence Ex Parte Smith; Regina v Same Ex Parte Grady Etc CA 6-Nov-1995
A ban on homosexuals serving in the armed forces was not irrational, and the challenge to the ban failed. The greater the policy content of a decision, and the more remote the subject matter of a decision from ordinary judicial experience, the more . .
See Also – A and Others, Regina (on the Application of) v Lord Saville of Newdigate and others CA 28-Jul-1999
Former soldiers who had been involved in the events in Londonderry in 1972, and were to be called to give evidence before a tribunal of inquiry, still had cause to fear from their names being given, and so were entitled to anonymity when giving such . .

Cited by:

Cited – Bloggs 61, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department CA 18-Jun-2003
The applicant sought review of a decision to remove him from a witness protection scheme within the prison. He claimed that having been promised protection, he had a legitimate expectation of protection, having been told he would receive protection . .
Cited – A and Another v Inner South London Coroner QBD 24-Jun-2004
At an inquest into the death of a civilian apparently shot by police officers, the officers applied for anonymity, which the coroner refused. They sought judicial review.
Held: How witnesses participated in coroners inquests was to be decided . .
Cited – Regina (A and Another) v Inner South London Coroner CA 2-Nov-2004
Police officers sought anonymity when asked to appear before a coroner’s court, citing fear of violence if named. The family of the deceased appealed an order granting that to them.
Held: The coroner had heard evidence that a family member had . .
Cited – Bennett v Officers A and B and Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis CA 2-Nov-2004
Police Officers had been involved in a shooting in which a man died. They were granted anonymity before the coroner’s court, on evidence suggesting they might be at risk. The family of the deceased appealed.
Held: The coroner misdirected . .
See Also – A and Others, Regina (on the Application of) v Lord Saville of Newdigate and others CA 28-Jul-1999
Former soldiers who had been involved in the events in Londonderry in 1972, and were to be called to give evidence before a tribunal of inquiry, still had cause to fear from their names being given, and so were entitled to anonymity when giving such . .
See Also – Regina (A and Others) v Lord Saville of Newdigate and Others QBD 16-Nov-2001
When making a decision which would interfere with the human rights of an individual, and even where the risks from which protections was sought, could be seen as small, it was the duty of the decision maker to justify the interference. The . .
See Also – Regina v The Right Honourable Lord Saville of Newdigate, Sir Edward Somers, Mr Justice William Hoyt ex parte A and others Admn 28-Jul-1999
. .
Cited – Hurst, Regina (on the Application of) v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis v London Northern District Coroner HL 28-Mar-2007
The claimant’s son had been stabbed to death. She challenged the refusal of the coroner to continue with the inquest with a view to examining the responsibility of any of the police in having failed to protect him.
Held: The question amounted . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Judicial Review, Litigation Practice, Media

Updated: 31 January 2022; Ref: scu.258641

Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police and Others v Dyer and Others: CA 27 Oct 2020

Appeal with permission against the Orders on a judicial review quashing in part the decision of the Coroner (the second respondent to this appeal) that the officers in question should give their evidence at the inquest of Andrew Hall from behind screens positioned to conceal them from the Court save from the sight of the coroner, jury, Court staff and legal representatives. The deceased died in hospital. He had been arrested by officers of the appellant’s force and taken to the hospital in handcuffs and leg restraints. Whilst at the Police station he had struggled and vomited. 16 officers were to give evidence. The family resisted that evidence being given so as to protect the officers’ identity.

Judges:

Lord Justice Flaux

Citations:

[2020] EWCA Civ 1375

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Coroners (Inquests) Rules 2013 11 18

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – Dyer, Regina (on The Application of) v Admn 30-Oct-2019
Judicial review was sought of a decision by the coroner to allow police witnesses to give evidence behind screens so as to protect their identities. The deceased had been arrested, had struggled violently in custody, vomited, deteriorated and taken . .
Cited – T, Regina (on The Application of) v HM Senior Coroner for The County of West Yorkshire (Western Area) CA 28-Apr-2017
The coroner was to investigate the death of a baby, but was now asked whether it was first necessary to determine whether the child had been born alive and not still-born.
Held: The principle of open justice is a fundamental principle of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Coroners, Media, Human Rights

Updated: 31 January 2022; Ref: scu.655179

Associated Newspapers Ltd v HM Revenue and Customs: CA 10 Feb 2017

This appeal is concerned with the VAT consequences (in respect of both input and output tax) of two promotional schemes carried out by Associated Newspapers Limited (‘ANL’) in order to boost the circulation of the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday.

Judges:

Jackson, Patten, Black LJJ

Citations:

[2017] EWCA Civ 54

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

VAT, Media

Updated: 29 January 2022; Ref: scu.574290

TV1 v Commission: ECFI 26 Jan 2017

ECJ (Judgment) Public service contracts – Tender procedure – Provision of integrated audiovisual production, broadcasting and archiving services – Rejection of a tenderer’s offer – Award of the contract to another tenderer – Abnormally low tender – Obligation to request clarification – Obligation to state reasons – Transparency – Equal treatment and non-discrimination – Manifest error of assessment

Citations:

ECLI: EU:T:2017: 35, [2017] EUECJ T-700/14

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

European

Media, Contract

Updated: 29 January 2022; Ref: scu.573819

Arcadia Group Ltd and Others v Telegraph Media Group Ltd: QBD 8 Feb 2019

Claimant’s application for leave to withdraw request for injunction to prevent publication of stories regarding matters subject to non-disclosure agreements.
Held: Granted. An junction had been granted, but Lord Hain had disclosed protected name in the House of Lords under the cover of parliamentary privilege.

Warby J
[2019] EWHC 223 (QB)
Bailii
England and Wales
Citing:
See Also – ABC and Others v Telegraph Media Group Ltd CA 23-Oct-2018
Human Rights balance in favour of Interim order
The Claimants, now Appellants sought an injunction to prevent the Defendant, from publishing what they say is confidential information about them which was disclosed in breach of confidence.
Held: The claimant’s appeal succeeded. The court . .
See Also – Arcadia Group Ltd and Others v Telegraph Media Group Ltd QBD 23-Jan-2019
. .
Cited – Castanho v Brown and Root (UK) Ltd HL 1981
A claim was made for an anti-suit injunction.
Held: The court is reluctant to make orders which would be ineffective to achieve what they set out to do, but the fear that the defendant will not obey an injunction is not a bar to its grant. The . .
Cited – Johnson v Gore Wood and Co HL 14-Dec-2000
Shareholder May Sue for Additional Personal Losses
A company brought a claim of negligence against its solicitors, and, after that claim was settled, the company’s owner brought a separate claim in respect of the same subject-matter.
Held: It need not be an abuse of the court for a shareholder . .
Cited – Aldi Stores Ltd v WSP Group Plc and others CA 28-Nov-2007
Aldi appealed against an order striking out as an abuse of process its claims against the defendant on a construction dispute. The defendant said the claims should have been brought as part of earlier proceedings.
Held: The appeal succeeded. . .
Cited – The High Commissioner for Pakistan In The United Kingdom v National Westminster Bank Plc and Others ChD 16-Jan-2015
The parties disputed management of a fund subject to a legal stalemate since 1948, and now worth some andpound;35 million pounds. Application to set aside discontinuance without permission.
Held: If, upon such an application, the Court is . .
Cited – Singh v The Charity Commission and Others ChD 22-Dec-2016
The court considered the circumstances under which a withdrawal of a case might be challenged: ‘(1) the rules do not prescribe any particular test for permitting discontinuance or, for that matter, for setting aside a notice of discontinuance; (2) a . .
Cited – Stati and Others v The Republic of Kazakhstan CA 10-Aug-2018
Appeal from an order setting aside a notice of discontinuance filed by the Appellants as claimants in proceedings under section 101 of the Arbitration Act 1996 to enforce a New York Convention award. He directed that the allegations made by the . .
Cited – Smithkline Beecham Plc/BASF AG v Generics (UK) Limited / Smithkline Beecham Plc CA 25-Jul-2003
The claimant had been involved in patent infringement proceedings. Papers had been disclosed to them under confidentiality conditions imposed by the judge. In these subsequent proceedings, they sought leave to use the material.
Held: An order . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Media, Contract

Updated: 27 January 2022; Ref: scu.633233

A and B v Persons Unknown: ChD 19 Dec 2016

Adults who were convicted of very serious crimes, whilst they were children, sought a permanent order restraining the press and all other persons from publishing their names or identities. The order is sought on the grounds that, if it is not made, there would be a very serious risk to their rights under articles 2, 3 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (the ‘ECHR’), because the claimants would be at risk of attack by vigilantes and other persons seeking revenge against them.
Held: The circumstances were exceptional, and orders were made.

Sir Geoffrey Vos, Ch
[2016] EWHC 3295 (Ch)
Bailii
England and Wales

Media

Updated: 27 January 2022; Ref: scu.572750

Spain v Commission T-808/14: ECFI 15 Dec 2016

ECJ Judgment – State aid – Digital television – Support for the deployment of digital terrestrial television in remote and less urbanized areas of Castilla-La Mancha – Decision declaring aid incompatible with the internal market – Concept of undertaking – Economic activity – Advantage – Service of general economic interest – Distortion of competition – Article 107 (3) (c) TFEU – Duty of care – Reasonable time – Legal certainty – Equal treatment – Proportionality – Subsidiarity – Right to information

ECLI:EU:T:2016:734, [2016] EUECJ T-808/14
Bailii
European

Media

Updated: 27 January 2022; Ref: scu.572612

NCL v MME: QBD 28 Sep 2020

The claimant alleged that the defendant had written and published a book revealing several confidential matters, and requested an injunction requiring is withdrawal. She sought to justify the making of such an order without notice to the defendant.

Lavender J
[2020] EWHC 2594 (QB)
Bailii
England and Wales

Media, Human rights, Litigation Practice

Updated: 26 January 2022; Ref: scu.655134

Birmingham City Council v Riaz and Others: FD 24 Jun 2015

The Council sought a lifelong order to protect the identity of a girl about to achieve majority, who have been subject to sexual exploitation as a child.
Held: Keehan J said: ‘There comes a point, however, where evidence is not merely speculative but is pure speculation, even from experienced professionals, with no sound or cogent underlying evidential basis. Given the Draconian and wide ranging nature of RROs, I am of the view that evidence of this nature will not be sufficient or adequate to provide an evidential basis to justify the making of an order.’

Keehan J
[2015] EWHC 1857 (Fam)
Bailii
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – H v A (No2) FD 17-Sep-2015
The court had previously published and then withdrawn its judgment after third parties had been able to identify those involved by pulling together media and internet reports with the judgment.
Held: The judgment case should be published in . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Media, Children

Updated: 26 January 2022; Ref: scu.550344

Re S (A Child) (Identification: Restrictions on Publication): FD 19 Feb 2003

A trial judge had refused an order that steps should not be taken so as to allow S to be identified in reporting the trial of his mother for the alleged murder of his brother by salt poisoning.
Held: The court dismissed the application for an injunction restraining the publication by newspapers of the identity of a defendant in a murder trial which had been intended to protect the privacy of her son who is not involved in the criminal proceedings. Section 39 was inapplicable because S was not a ‘child concerned in the proceedings, either as being the person by or against or in respect of whom the proceedings were taken, or as being a witness therein’. ‘First I recognise the primacy in a democratic society of the open reporting of public proceedings on grave criminal charges and the inevitable price that that involves in incursions on the privacy of individuals. Secondly, I recognise that Parliament has in a number of statutes qualified that right to report and, in the context of this case, most notably in section 39 of the 1933 Act; where a set of circumstances arise not covered by those provisions the court should in my judgment be slow to extend the incursion into the right of free speech by the use of the inherent jurisdiction. Thirdly, I have to recognise that not even the restrictions contended for here offer real hope to CS of proper isolation from the fallout of publicity at this trial; it is inevitable that those who know him will identify him and thus frustrate the purpose of the restriction. Lastly, I am simply not convinced that, when everything is drawn together and weighed, it can be said that grounds under article 10(2) of the ECHR have been made out in terms of the balance of the effective preservation of CS’s article 8 rights against the right to publish under article 10. I should add, although it is not strictly necessary to do so, that I think I would have come to the same conclusion even had I been persuaded that this was a case where CS’s welfare was indeed my paramount consideration under section 1(1) of the 1989 Act.’ The newspapers were not to be prevented in reports of the criminal trial from publishing the identity of the defendant or her deceased son or photographs of them.

Hedley J
[2003] EWHC 254 (Fam)
Children and Young Persons Act 1933 839
England and Wales
Cited by:
Appeal from – In re S (A Child) (Identification: Restrictions on Publication) CA 10-Jul-2003
An order was sought to protect from publicity a child whose mother faced trial for the murder of his brother. The child was now in care.
Held: The court must balance the need to protect the child with the need for freedom of the press. The . .
At first instance – In re S (a Child) (Identification: Restrictions on Publication) HL 28-Oct-2004
Inherent High Court power may restrain Publicity
The claimant child’s mother was to be tried for the murder of his brother by poisoning with salt. It was feared that the publicity which would normally attend a trial, would be damaging to S, and an application was made for reporting restrictions to . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Media, criminal Practice, Children, Human Rights

Updated: 26 January 2022; Ref: scu.219020

Gray v UVW: QBD 21 Oct 2010

Application was made for the name of the defendant not to be published.
Held: To the extent that a claimant seeks an order for the anonymisation of any reports of the SOPO proceedings, then that jurisdiction derives from section 6(1) of the Human Rights Act 1998. However: ‘an order for anonymity and reporting restrictions cannot be made simply because the parties consent: parties cannot waive the rights of the public.’

Tugendhat J
[2010] EWHC 2367 (QB)
Bailii
Human Rights Act 1998 6(1)
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – JIH v News Group Newspapers Ltd QBD 5-Nov-2010
The court was asked as to the circumstances under which the identity of a claimant should be protected in an action where he sought to restrain the publication of private information about him.
Held: Tugendhat J accepted the proposition . .
Cited – JIH v News Group Newspapers Ltd CA 31-Jan-2011
Principles on Request for Anonymity Order
The defendant appealed against an order granting the anonymisation of the proceeedings.
Held: The critical question is whether there is sufficient general public interest in publishing a report of proceedings which identifies a party by name, . .
Cited – Allen v The Grimsby Telegraph and Another QBD 2-Mar-2011
The claimant sought to prevent publication of his name in the context of the making of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO). He had been convicted of offences against sex workers. An order had been made preventing disclosure of his address, but . .
Cited – Goldsmith and Another v BCD QBD 22-Mar-2011
The claimants sought damages, alleging that the defendants had hacked into their e-mail accounts. The defendant now sought protection of her identity through anonymisation of the case.
Held: Granted. . .
Cited – ABC Ltd v Y ChD 6-Dec-2010
There had been proceedings as to the misuse of confidential information. X, a non-party, now sought disclosure of papers used in that case. The case had been settled by means of a Tomlin Schedule, and that, subject to further order, non-parties . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Litigation Practice, Human Rights, Media

Updated: 26 January 2022; Ref: scu.425387

Mosley v News Group Newspapers Ltd: QBD 9 Apr 2008

The claimant sought to continue an interim injunction requiring the defendant not to publish a film on its website.
Held: A claimant’s Article 8 rights may be engaged even where the information in question has been previously publicised.

Eady J
[2008] EWHC 687 (QB)
Bailii
European Convention on Human Rights 8
England and Wales
Cited by:
See Also – Mosley v News Group Newspapers Ltd Admn 1-Jul-2008
The claimant the son of a former fascist leader, sought damages for breach of confidence and a right to a private life after the defendant newspaper published stories alleging that his involvement with prostitutes had included nazi rituals. The . .
See Also – Mosley v News Group Newspapers Ltd QBD 24-Jul-2008
The defendant published a film showing the claimant involved in sex acts with prostitutes. It characterised them as ‘Nazi’ style. He was the son of a fascist leader, and a chairman of an international sporting body. He denied any nazi element, and . .
See Also – Mosley v The United Kingdom ECHR 22-Oct-2009
. .
See Also – Mosley v The United Kingdom ECHR 10-May-2011
The claimant complained of the reporting of a sexual encounter which he said was private.
Held: The reporting of ‘tawdry allegations about an individual’s private life’ does not attract the robust protection under Article 10 afforded to more . .
Cited – PJS v News Group Newspapers Ltd SC 19-May-2016
The appellants had applied for restrictions on the publication of stories about their extra marital affairs. The Court of Appeal had removed the restrictions on the basis that the story had been widely spread outside the jurisdiction both on the . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Media, Human Rights, Information

Updated: 26 January 2022; Ref: scu.266533

DTS Distribuidora De Television Digital v Commission: ECJ 10 Nov 2016

ECJ (Judgment) Appeal – State aid – State aid scheme in favour of the national public broadcast organisation – Public service obligations – Set-off – Article 106(2) TFEU – Decision declaring the aid scheme compatible with the internal market – Alteration of the method of financing – Tax measures – Tax imposed on pay-television operators – Decision declaring the amended aid scheme compatible with the internal market – Taking into account of the method of financing – Existence of hypothecation between the tax and the aid scheme – Direct impact of the revenue from the tax on the amount of the aid – Coverage of the net costs of fulfilling the public service mandate – Competitive relationship between the person liable to pay the tax and the beneficiary of the aid – Distortion of national law

ECLI:EU:C:2016:848, [2016] EUECJ C-449/14
Bailii
European

Media

Updated: 25 January 2022; Ref: scu.571270

Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council v M and Others: FC 25 Oct 2016

Rotherham had made a teenage girl a ward of court and had obtained interim injunctions that four named men should not associate with her. It alleged that they had been sexually exploiting her. None of the four came to be charged with any offence but two had been arrested and remained on police bail. Rotherham decided that it would not be able to substantiate allegations against any them and applied for the injunctions to be discharged. Rotherham also sought an indefinite extension of interim reporting restriction orders against identification not only of the girl but also of the four men. Times Newspapers Ltd, also the first respondent to the present appeal, opposed extension of the orders insofar as they related to the four men.
Held: The application was granted.
Cobb J said: ‘I next ask myself what is the public interest in naming these four men in the press as persons against whom injunction proceedings were once brought, interim injunctions (without evidence being tested) once made, but in respect of whom in the end no findings were sought, let alone made. In my judgment there is no, or if any, negligible, such public interest . . On the other hand, there is a substantial risk that, given the strength of feeling in Rotherham and elsewhere about those who engage in child sexual exploitation and similar offences, they would be perceived to be perpetrators or likely perpetrators, and pilloried and/or targeted in their communities if they were known to have been under suspicion in this way.’
He quoted from a leading article in The Times: ‘False rape and abuse accusations can inflict terrible damage on the reputations, prospects and health of those accused. For all the presumption of innocence, mud sticks.’
He concluded that the restriction orders against identification of the men should be continued indefinitely: ‘I have reached the firm conclusion that there is no true public interest in naming the four associated males, against whom, in the end, no findings have been sought or made. [Their] article 8 rights . . would be in my judgment significantly violated were they to be publicly exposed in the media as having been implicated to a greater or lesser degree, but not proved to be engaged, in this type of offending.’

Cobb J
[2016] EWHC 2660 (Fam), [2016] 4 WLR 177
Bailii
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – PNM v Times Newspapers Ltd and Others SC 19-Jul-2017
No anonymity for investigation suspect
The claimant had been investigated on an allegation of historic sexual abuse. He had never been charged, but the investigation had continued with others being convicted in a high profile case. He appealed from refusal of orders restricting . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Family, Media, Human Rights

Updated: 24 January 2022; Ref: scu.570772

Sondagsavisen v Commission: ECFI 11 Oct 2016

(Judgment) State aid – Aid scheme for production and innovation in the field of print media – Decision not to raise objections – Decision declaring the aid scheme compatible with the internal market – procedural rights of interested parties – No serious difficulties – Obligation to state reasons

ECLI:EU:T:2016:603, [2016] EUECJ T-167/14
Bailii
European

Media

Updated: 24 January 2022; Ref: scu.570148

A Council v M and Others (Judgment 3: Reporting Restrictions): FD 20 Jul 2012

Applications were made for the protection of the identity of children and family members ahead of care and criminal proceedings. The order was resisted by several news organisations.
Held: a conclusion that the Art 8 rights of individuals should prevail over the Art 10 rights of the public so as to restrict the reporting of criminal proceedings will be highly exceptional, although not one that is beyond the contemplation of the courts.

Peter Jackson J
[2012] EWHC 2038 (Fam)
Bailii
European Convention on Human Rights 8 10
England and Wales
Citing:
See Also – A Council v M and Others (Judgment 1: Fact-Finding) FD 8-Mar-2012
Application for care order in respect of four children. . .
See Also – A Council v M and Others (Judgment 2: Welfare) FD 17-Jul-2012
. .

Cited by:
Cited – H v A (No2) FD 17-Sep-2015
The court had previously published and then withdrawn its judgment after third parties had been able to identify those involved by pulling together media and internet reports with the judgment.
Held: The judgment case should be published in . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Media, Litigation Practice, Human Rights

Updated: 24 January 2022; Ref: scu.509155

Re Alcott (No 2): FD 29 Sep 2016

In an application for a summary order for the return of a child to Australia, the court now considered applications for the release of materials in the media.

Alex Verdan QC
[2016] EWHC 2414 (Fam)
Bailii
England and Wales
Citing:
See Also – Alcott (No 1) FD 27-Sep-2016
. .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children, Media, Human Rights

Updated: 23 January 2022; Ref: scu.569860

McFadden C-484/14: ECJ 15 Sep 2016

ECJ (Judgment) Reference for a preliminary ruling – Information society – Free movement of services – Commercial wireless local area network (WLAN) – Made available to the general public free of charge – Liability of intermediary service providers – Mere conduit – Directive 2000/31/EC – Article 12 – Limitation of liability – Unknown user of the network – Infringement of rights of rightholders over a protected work – Duty to secure the network – Tortious liability of the trader

ECLI:EU:C:2016:689, [2016] EUECJ C-484/14
Bailii
European

Media

Updated: 23 January 2022; Ref: scu.569370

Koninklijke Kpn And Others: ECJ 15 Sep 2016

ECJ Judgment – Reference for a preliminary ruling – Common regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services – Directive 2002/21/EC – Articles 4 and 19 – National Regulatory Authority – Harmonisation measures – Recommendation 2009/396/EC – Legal scope – Directive 2002/19/EC – Articles 8 and 13 – Operator designated as having significant market power on a market – Obligations imposed by national regulatory authorities – Price control and cost accounting obligations – Fixed and mobile termination rates – Scope of the review that national courts can exercise over the decisions of national regulatory authorities

ECLI:EU:C:2016:692, [2016] EUECJ C-28/15
Bailii
European

Media

Updated: 23 January 2022; Ref: scu.569365

Bain v Bowles: CA 1991

The Lady magazine had no defence to a complaint by a man whose advertisement for a housekeeper in Tuscany they had refused to accept. Following past complaints of sexual harassment, the magazine’s policy was to accept such advertisements only where the employer was a woman. The perception of the risk of harm to those who answer the advertisement was not a relevant circumstance for the purpose of the Act. Essentially, it comes within the category of motive for the discrimination and for the policy adopted by the defendants.

Beldam LJ, Dillon LJ
[1991] IRLR 357
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – European Roma Rights Centre and others v Immigration Officer at Prague Airport and Another CA 20-May-2003
A scheme had been introduced to arrange pre-entry clearance for visitors to the United Kingdom by posting of immigration officers in the Czech Republic. The claimants argued that the system was discriminatory, because Roma visitors were now . .
Cited – Shamoon v Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary HL 27-Feb-2003
The applicant was a chief inspector of police. She had been prevented from carrying out appraisals of other senior staff, and complained of sex discrimination.
Held: The claimant’s appeal failed. The tribunal had taken a two stage approach. It . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Discrimination, Media

Updated: 22 January 2022; Ref: scu.182466

Various Claimants v MGN Ltd: ChD 25 Jul 2016

Costs management hearing in this managed litigation. Earlier costs budgets have been agreed, but those budgets do not cover the entire litigation up to trial and further budgets have been exchanged to take the managed cases up to, but not through, the trial stage. The claimants have agreed the defendants’ budgets. The defendants have not agreed the claimants’ budgets and practically every item in those budgets is disputed. Some of the disputes are particular to the items in question. Others are more over-arching disputes on points which are akin to questions of principle. This judgment deals with one of them, namely the extent to which budgeting should encompass additional liabilities (uplift and ATE insurance premiums) where, as here, a party (the claimants) has entered a conditional fee agreement (‘CFA’) with its lawyers. The cases with which this judgment is concerned are cases based on privacy and publication, and so are cases in which recovery of additional liabilities from the paying party is still possible.

Mann J
[2016] EWHC 1894 (Ch)
Bailii
England and Wales

Media, Costs

Updated: 20 January 2022; Ref: scu.567515

Christopher Evans v SMG Television Limited etc: ChD 26 Jun 2003

The claimant had a series of agreements with the respondents. He had worked as radio presenter, having sold the radio station to the respondents. He was later dismissed and now sought damages for wrongful dismissal and breach of a partnership agreement. The defendants alleged he had breached the contracts inter alia by his failure to attend to business.
Held: The claimant was severely criticised in his character and behaviour. His breaches of the contract were such as to justify the defendants treating his behaviour as repudiatory, and to reject offers to comply with the contracts in future as empty. The judge criticised the refusal of the parties to mitigate the costs of such actions.

Mr Justice Lightman
[2003] EWHC 1423 (Ch)
Bailii
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – General Accident Fire and Life Assurance Corpn v Robertson HL 1909
The appellant agreed to pay andpound;1,000 to the executors of the owner of a diary if he was fatally injured in a railway accident within twelve months of his name being registered at its head office. The respondent’s husband filled up and . .
Cited – Thompson v Smith Repairers 1984
The court should not become involved in an assessment of damages so vague that it is shot through with imprecision. . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Media, Company, Employment

Updated: 20 January 2022; Ref: scu.183818

Gilbert v The Star Newspaper Co Ltd: ChD 1894

W.S. Gilbert had found that, in breach of the implied obligation upon cast members and theatre employees not to disclose the plot of the play in respect of which they were engaged, the plot of his comic opera ‘His Excellency’ had been disclosed to the defendant. Without proof of an assignment or as to joint ownership but relying upon the factual situation the court required the joinder of the theatre manager as a co-plaintiff and granted an appropriate injunction in favour of both Plaintiffs.

Chitty J
(1894) 51 TLR 4
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Douglas etc v Hello! Ltd etc ChD 11-Apr-2003
The claimants were to be married. They sold the rights to publish photographs of their wedding, but various of the defendants took and published unauthorised pictures.
Held: The claimants had gone to lengths to ensure the commercial value of . .
Cited – Douglas and others v Hello! Ltd and others (No 3) CA 18-May-2005
The principal claimants sold the rights to take photographs of their wedding to a co-claimant magazine (OK). Persons acting on behalf of the defendants took unauthorised photographs which the defendants published. The claimants had retained joint . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Intellectual Property, Media

Updated: 20 January 2022; Ref: scu.181408

Times Newspapers Ltd v Abdulaziz: CACD 8 Jul 2016

The newspaper challenged an order that the part of the defendant’s trial for rape which related to his character and history should be heard excluding the press.
Held: The order stood. Clearly such an order could be made only after careful consideration, and was a metter of great sensitivity. The fact that some element might already have been disclosed by accident did not undermine the order. The particular facts which could not themselves be relayed openly in this case supported the need for the order.

Gross LJ, Wyn Williams J, Hilliard QC HHJ
[2016] EWCA Crim 887, [2016] 1 WLR 4366, [2016] WLR(D) 381, [2016] Crim LR 939, [2016] 2 Cr App R 28, [2016] EMLR 25
Bailii, WLRD
Contempt of Court Act 1981 11
England and Wales

Criminal Practice, Media

Updated: 19 January 2022; Ref: scu.566817

Confetti Records (A Firm), Fundamental Records, Andrew Alcee v Warner Music UK Ltd (Trading As East West Records): ChD 23 May 2003

An agreement was made for the assignment of the copyright in a music track, but it remained ‘subject to contract’. The assignor later sought to resile from the assignment.
Held: It is standard practice in the music licensing business for a licensee and a licensor to enter into a deal memo followed by a long form contract, but the deal memo’s and contract are not of a standard form. The circumstances are not so strong and exceptional as to displace the conventional meaning of the phrase ‘subject to contract’. The burden was on the Defendant to establish any custom or usage within the industry to the effect that ‘subject to contract’ does not bear the meaning it bears in normal legal usage. That burden was not discharged. The fact that a party to an agreement ‘subject to contract’ acts on the faith of that agreement does not raise any estoppel as to the existence of a binding contract. In this case there had been representations and acts in reliance upon those expectations. An estoppel was created, and a contract concluded. There was accordingly no action for copyright infringement.
The claimant also sought damages for the derogatory treatment of his work. That was claimable only if his reputation was damaged. The court had the faintly surreal experience of three gentlemen in horsehair wigs examining the meaning of such phrases as ‘mish mish man’ and ‘shizzle (or sizzle) my nizzle’, but there was no evidence of the author’s reputation or damage to it.

The Honourable Mr Justice Lewison
[2003] EWCh 1274 (Ch), Times 12-Jun-2003
Bailii
Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 80 97(2)
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Winn v Bull ChD 19-Nov-1877
By an agreement in writing, the defendant agreed with the plaintiff to take a lease of a house. The other details were included, but the agreement was ‘subject to the preparation and approval of a formal contract’. The plaintiff sought specific . .
Cited – Chillingworth v Esche CA 1923
The purchasers agreed in writing to purchase land ‘subject to a proper contract to be prepared by the vendors’ solicitors’ accepting andpound;240 ‘as deposit and in part payment of the said purchase money’. A contract was prepared by the vendor’s . .
Cited – Rossdale v Denny CA 1921
The plaintiff offered in writing to purchase a leasehold house, but the letter was to take effect ‘on signing of a formal contract’ and ‘This offer is subject to a formal contract to embody such reasonable provisions as my solicitors may approve’. . .
Cited – Von Hatzfeldt-Wildensburg v Alexander ChD 26-Jul-1911
A purchaser wrote offering to purchase a house, saying acceptance was subject to her solicitor approving title, covenants, lease and form of contract.
Held: It was not a complete contract capable of enforcement: ‘It appears to be well settled . .
Cited – Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Co CA 7-Dec-1892
Unilateral Contract Liability
The defendants advertised ‘The Carbolic Smoke Ball,’ in the Pall Mall Gazette, saying ‘pounds 100 reward will be paid by the Carbolic Smoke Ball Company to any person who contracts the increasing epidemic influenza, colds, or any disease caused by . .
Cited – Von Hatzfeldt-Wildensburg v Alexander ChD 26-Jul-1911
A purchaser wrote offering to purchase a house, saying acceptance was subject to her solicitor approving title, covenants, lease and form of contract.
Held: It was not a complete contract capable of enforcement: ‘It appears to be well settled . .
Cited – Michael Richards Properties Ltd v Corporation of Wardens of St Saviour’s Parish Southwark 1975
Property was offered for sale by tender. The tender documents contained all the detailed terms upon which the contract was to be based. The successful tender was accepted by letter, but by mistake the secretary who typed it typed in the words . .
Cited – Munton v Greater London Council CA 1976
With respect to the words ‘subject to contract’, Lord Denning said, ‘It is of the greatest importance that no doubt should be thrown on the effect of those words’. As to the difference netween the procedures of compulsory purchase and ordinary . .
Cited – Salvation Army Trustee Co Ltd v West Yorkshire Metropolitan County Council 1980
Threatened with a road widening, the plaintiffs left their old property, and began to develop their new one, again, on land owned by the respondent. In practice it was negotiated as an exchange of properties. The negotiations were held ‘without . .
Cited – Pasterfield v Denham ChD 1999
Distortion or mutilation is only actionable under the section if it is prejudicial to the author’s honour or reputation. . .
Cited – Mount Eden Land Ltd v Prudential Assurance Co Ltd CA 12-Nov-1996
The Court warned against extending the ‘magic’ of the ‘subject to contract’ label into the realm of unilateral licences. The question was whether a landlord had granted licence to the tenant to carry out alterations. The letter relied on as . .
Cited – Interfoto Picture Library Ltd v Stiletto Visual Programmes Ltd CA 12-Nov-1987
Incorporation of Onerous Terms Requires More Care
Photographic transparencies were hired out to the advertising agency defendant. The contract clauses on the delivery note included a fee which was exorbitant for the retention of transparencies beyond the set date.
Held: The plaintiff had not . .
Cited – Alpenstow Ltd v Regalian Properties plc ChD 1985
The parties agreed in writing for the sale of land, the agreement contained a right of pre-emption. In the event of the owner wishing to sell it was to offer to sell a share in the property by notice. Within 28 days of the notice, the grantee was to . .
Cited – Western Electric Ltd v Welsh Development Agency 1983
An offer to grant a licence to occupy land may be accepted by taking up occupation. . .
Cited – Cohen v Nessdale Ltd CA 1982
Once negotiations are begun ‘subject to contract’, that label governs all subsequent communications between the parties unless the label is expunged by express agreement or by necessary implication. . .
Cited – Attorney General of Hong Kong v Humphreys Estate (Queen’s Gardens) Ltd PC 1987
An agreement in principle was marked ‘subject to contract’. The Government would acquire some flats owned the plaintiff Group of companies in return for the Government granting, inter alia, a lease to the Group of some Crown lands. The Government . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Contract, Media, Estoppel, Intellectual Property

Updated: 19 January 2022; Ref: scu.183288

Austin, Regina (on The Application of) v Parole Board for England and Wales: Admn 17 Jan 2022

Parole Board Publication Scheme Unduly Complicated

This claim for judicial review raises important issues about the lawfulness of the Parole Board’s policy and practice in relation to the provision of a summary of a Parole Board decision to victims and victims’ families and the media. The protocol required advance disclosure of the summary to legal representatives against their undertaking for non-disclosure in certain noteworthy cases. In this case, the undertaking was refused, citing professional obligations.
Held: There were potential conflicts between the protocol, and the solicitor’s professional duties to his client. The requirement in the Protocol of an undertaking by the solicitor not to disclose the content of the full decision letter and the draft summary to his client was, in the context of the mischief at which the Protocol was aimed, unreasonable, disproportionate, unfair and consequently unlawful. It could be simplified.

Mr Justice Spencer
[2022] EWHC 63 (Admin)
Bailii
Parole Board Rules 2019 27, Criminal Justice Act 2003, Solicitors’ Regulation Authority Code of Conduct 6.4
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Hazell v Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council HL 1991
Swap deals outwith Council powers
The authority entered into interest rate swap deals to protect itself against adverse money market movements. They began to lose substantial amounts when interest rates rose, and the district auditor sought a declaration that the contracts were . .
Cited – Dickins v Parole Board for England and Wales Admn 6-May-2021
The panel had made its decision on release of a life sentence prisoner and had sent its reasoned decision to the case manager. A question then arose as to whether new information could be received by the panel entitling it to reopen its decision. . .
Cited – Roberts v Parole Board HL 7-Jul-2005
Balancing Rights of Prisoner and Society
The appellant had been convicted of the murder of three police officers in 1966. His tariff of thirty years had now long expired. He complained that material put before the Parole Board reviewing has case had not been disclosed to him.
Held: . .
Cited – Gifford-Hull v Parole Board for England and Wales Admn 28-Jan-2021
The prisoner’s solicitor declined to give an undertaking because he considered it to be contrary to his professional duty to his client to disclose all information to
his client about his case.
Held: HH Judge Cotter QC found it . .
Cited – DSD and NBV and Others Regina (on The Application of) v Admn 28-Mar-2018
Challenge to decision of parole board for release of notorious criminal. – Whether Parole Board should take account of allegations made but neither prosecuted nor admitted. Whether Parole Board hearings were public.
Held: Granted
Sir . .
Cited – Osborn v The Parole Board SC 9-Oct-2013
Three prisoners raised questions as to the circumstances in which the Parole Board is required to hold an oral hearing before making an adverse decision. One of the appeals (Osborn) concerned a determinate sentence prisoner who was released on . .
Cited – The Lord Chancellor v Detention Action CA 29-Jul-2015
The claimant challenged the legality of the Fast Track Rules 2014 which govern appeals to the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) against refusals by the Secretary of State for the Home Department (‘SSHD’) of asylum applications. . .
Cited – A, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for The Home Department SC 30-Jul-2021
Standards to be applied by a court when it is asked to conduct a judicial review of the contents of a policy document or statement of practice issued by the Government. The Supreme Court set out the principles governing the test that should be . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Prisons, Media, Legal Professions

Updated: 19 January 2022; Ref: scu.671309

Ordre Des Barreaux Francophones and Germanophone and Others v Council: ECJ 15 Jan 2020

(Approximation of Laws – Opinion) Reference for a preliminary ruling – Processing of personal data and protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector – Directive 2002/58 / EC – Scope – Article 1, paragraph 3 – Article 15, paragraph 1 – Article 4, paragraph 2, TEU – Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union – Articles 4, 6, 7, 8, 11 and 52, paragraph 1 – General and undifferentiated obligation to store traffic data and location data – Effectiveness of criminal investigations and other objectives of general interest

C-520/18, [2020] EUECJ C-520/18_O, ECLI: EU: C: 2020: 7
Bailii
European

Information, Media

Updated: 17 January 2022; Ref: scu.654718

Arcadia Group Ltd and Others v Telegraph Media Group Ltd: QBD 23 Jan 2019

Warby J
[2019] EWHC 96 (QB)
Bailii
England and Wales
Citing:
See Also – ABC and Others v Telegraph Media Group Ltd CA 23-Oct-2018
Human Rights balance in favour of Interim order
The Claimants, now Appellants sought an injunction to prevent the Defendant, from publishing what they say is confidential information about them which was disclosed in breach of confidence.
Held: The claimant’s appeal succeeded. The court . .

Cited by:
See Also – Arcadia Group Ltd and Others v Telegraph Media Group Ltd QBD 8-Feb-2019
Claimant’s application for leave to withdraw request for injunction to prevent publication of stories regarding matters subject to non-disclosure agreements.
Held: Granted. An junction had been granted, but Lord Hain had disclosed protected . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Media, Litigation Practice

Updated: 17 January 2022; Ref: scu.632715

DMK v News Group Newspapers Ltd: QBD 5 May 2016

DMK was for some years in a relationship with a wealthy divorcee. He is the claimant in the Chancery Action. The relationship broke down over two years before. It was DMK’s case that this happened against a background of domestic abuse. In the course of the relationship the Chancery claimant transferred substantial sums of money to DMK, in two tranches. In the Chancery Action he claimed recovery of those sums, on the basis that the transfers were by way of loan. DMK resists the claim, asserting that the transfers were gifts. The court now considered the continuation of privacy orders protecting DMK’s identity.

Warby J
[2016] EWHC 1646 (QB)
Bailii
England and Wales

Media

Updated: 16 January 2022; Ref: scu.564501

Mackay and BBC Scotland v United Kingdom: ECHR 7 Dec 2010

Lech Garlicki, P
[2010] ECHR 1968, (2011) 53 EHRR 19, 10734/05
Bailii
European Convention on Human Rights
Citing:
See Also – Mackay and BBC Scotland v United Kingdom ECHR 17-Mar-2008
. .
See Also – Mackay And BBC Scotland v United Kingdom ECHR 14-Oct-2009
. .

Cited by:
Cited – A v British Broadcasting Corporation (Scotland) SC 8-May-2014
Anonymised Party to Proceedings
The BBC challenged an order made by the Court of Session in judicial review proceedings, permitting the applicant review to delete his name and address and substituting letters of the alphabet, in the exercise (or, as the BBC argues, purported . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Human Rights, Media

Updated: 16 January 2022; Ref: scu.564192

Telefonica Europe Plc and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v Revenue and Customs: UTTC 15 Apr 2016

UTTC JUDICIAL REVIEW – determining place of effective use and enjoyment of telecommunications services – whether methodology for apportioning charge between EU and non-EU services based on usage is unlawful – whether claimants had legitimate expectation derived from correspondence with HMRC that claimants could continue to use methodology based on revenues until change in law or claimant’s business – whether HMRC had duty to consult claimants before requiring them to apply a new methodology – whether HMRC consulted claimants adequately

[2016] UKUT 173 (TCC)
Bailii
England and Wales

Media

Updated: 14 January 2022; Ref: scu.562437

PJS v News Group Newspapers Ltd: CA 22 Jan 2016

The claimants sought to restrain newspapers from publishing their identities in the context of allegations of sexual misconduct. They now appealed against rejection of their request for an interim injunction.
Held: The appeal succeeded.

Jackson, King LJJ
[2016] EWCA Civ 100
Bailii
England and Wales
Cited by:
See Also – PJS v News Group Newspapers Ltd CA 18-Apr-2016
The claimant celebrity had obtained an injunction restraining the defendant newspaper from publishing details of his extra marital activities. The newspaper appealed, saying that the information had already been printed abroad, and had been widely . .
At CA – PJS v News Group Newspapers Ltd SC 19-May-2016
The appellants had applied for restrictions on the publication of stories about their extra marital affairs. The Court of Appeal had removed the restrictions on the basis that the story had been widely spread outside the jurisdiction both on the . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Media, Litigation Practice

Updated: 12 January 2022; Ref: scu.561120

Daimler AG v Egyud Garage Gepjarmujavito es Ertekesiti Kft: ECJ 3 Mar 2016

ECJ (Judgment) References for a preliminary ruling – Trade marks – Directive 2008/95/EC – Article 5(1) – Advertisements relating to a third party accessible on the internet – Unauthorised use of the mark – Advertisements published online without the knowledge and without the consent of that third party or maintained online despite the opposition of that third party – Action of the trade mark proprietor against that third party

ECLI:EU:C:2016:134, C-179/15, [2016] EUECJ C-179/15, [2016] WLR(D) 117, [2016] Bus LR 632
Bailii
European

Intellectual Property, Media

Updated: 12 January 2022; Ref: scu.560957

Ferdinand v MGN Limited: QBD 29 Sep 2011

The claimant, a famous footballer, complained that an article by the defendant relating an affair he had had, had infringed his right to privacy. The defendant relied on its right to freedom of expression. The claimant had at an earlier stage, and at the time of the incidents related, led a wilder social life, but said that he had since settled down.
Held: The claim failed. The evidence of earlier behaviour was a matter of proper public interest, and the claimant himself in his own book had made much of it. That did not mean that he had abandoned all rights of privacy: ‘In the nature of things, the subject matter of the article is private information which is likely to have caused even a phlegmatic character some embarrassment and, as such, this supports the existence of a reasonable expectation of privacy.’
Nicol J continued: ‘the balancing competing rights between Article 8 and Article 10 called for an intense focus on the comparative importance of the two rights in the specific context of the particular case.’ In this particular case, the claimant had met up with the woman after the time when he was proclaiming himself a reformed character, and had managed a public relations effort to project an image consistent with his later standing as captain of the England football team. Such an appointment might itself require better standards of the appointee, and his appointment was as a direct result of the prior captain’s own failings. The balancing exercise in this particular case fell to the defendant’s benefit.

Nicol J
[2011] EWHC 2454 (QB)
Bailii
European Convention on Human Rights 10 8
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – A v B plc and Another (Flitcroft v MGN Ltd) CA 11-Mar-2002
A newspaper company appealed against an order preventing it naming a footballer who, they claimed, had been unfaithful to his wife.
Held: There remains a distinction between the right of privacy which attaches to sexual activities within and . .
Cited – Campbell v Mirror Group Newspapers Ltd (MGN) (No 1) HL 6-May-2004
The claimant appealed against the denial of her claim that the defendant had infringed her right to respect for her private life. She was a model who had proclaimed publicly that she did not take drugs, but the defendant had published a story . .
Cited – Von Hannover v Germany ECHR 24-Jun-2004
Princess Caroline of Monaco who had, at some time, received considerable attention in the media throughout Europe, complained at the publication of photographs taken of her withour her permission.
Held: There was no doubt that the publication . .
Cited – In re S (a Child) (Identification: Restrictions on Publication) HL 28-Oct-2004
Inherent High Court power may restrain Publicity
The claimant child’s mother was to be tried for the murder of his brother by poisoning with salt. It was feared that the publicity which would normally attend a trial, would be damaging to S, and an application was made for reporting restrictions to . .
Cited – Ash and Another v McKennitt and others CA 14-Dec-2006
The claimant was a celebrated Canadian folk musician. The defendant, a former friend, published a story of their close friendship. The claimant said the relationship had been private, and publication infringed her privacy rights, and she obtained an . .
Cited – Hutcheson (Formerly Known As ‘KGM’) v News Group Newspapers Ltd and Others CA 19-Jul-2011
The claimant appealed against the refusal of a privacy order, protecting his identity in his claim.
Held: The appeal was refused. That Article 8 was ‘engaged’ was not conclusive of the question whether the claimant enjoyed a reasonable . .
Cited – Mosley v The United Kingdom ECHR 10-May-2011
The claimant complained of the reporting of a sexual encounter which he said was private.
Held: The reporting of ‘tawdry allegations about an individual’s private life’ does not attract the robust protection under Article 10 afforded to more . .
Cited – KGM v News Group Newspapers Ltd and Others QBD 1-Dec-2010
The claimant had obtained an interim injunction to prevent the defendant newspapers from publishing stories about him, together with an order protecting his identity within the proceedings. The defendants now sought to have the injunctions set . .
Cited – Murray v Big Pictures (UK) Ltd; Murray v Express Newspapers CA 7-May-2008
The claimant, a famous writer, complained on behalf of her infant son that he had been photographed in a public street with her, and that the photograph had later been published in a national newspaper. She appealed an order striking out her claim . .
Cited – Handyside v The United Kingdom ECHR 7-Dec-1976
Freedom of Expression is Fundamental to Society
The appellant had published a ‘Little Red Schoolbook’. He was convicted under the 1959 and 1964 Acts on the basis that the book was obscene, it tending to deprave and corrupt its target audience, children. The book claimed that it was intended to . .
Cited – Re Angela Roddy (a child) (identification: restriction on publication), Torbay Borough Council v News Group Newspapers FD 2-Dec-2003
A twelve year old girl had become pregnant. The Catholic Church was said to have paid her not to have an abortion. After the birth she and her baby were taken into care. The authority proposed the adoption of the baby. There was more publicity. . .
Cited – Terry (previously LNS) v Persons Unknown QBD 29-Jan-2010
The claimant (then known as LNS) had obtained an injunction to restrain publication of private materials.
Held: There was insufficient material to found an action in confidence or privacy. An applicant was unlikely to succeed either at an . .
Cited – Mosley v News Group Newspapers Ltd QBD 24-Jul-2008
The defendant published a film showing the claimant involved in sex acts with prostitutes. It characterised them as ‘Nazi’ style. He was the son of a fascist leader, and a chairman of an international sporting body. He denied any nazi element, and . .
Cited – Lord Browne of Madingley v Associated Newspapers Ltd CA 3-Apr-2007
The appellant sought to restrict publication by the defendants in the Mail on Sunday of matters which he said were a breach of confidence. He had lied to a court in giving evidence, whilst at the same time being ready to trash the reputation of his . .
Cited – Goodwin v NGN Ltd and VBN QBD 9-Jun-2011
The claimant had obtained an injunction preventing publication of his name and that of his coworker with whom he had had an affair. After widespread publication of his name elsewhere, the defendant had secured the discharge of the order as regards . .
Cited – Theakston v MGN Ltd QBD 14-Feb-2002
The claimant, a celebrity sought to restrain publication by the defendant of information about his sex life, consisting of pictures of him in a brothel. The court considered the test for the grant of an injunction to restrain publication under the . .

Cited by:
Cited – McClaren v News Group Newspapers Ltd QBD 5-Sep-2012
The claimant had obtained an interim injunction to restrain the defendant publishing what he said was private information about a sexual encounter. He also sought an injunction under the 1997 Act.
Held: The claim succeeded: ‘there have been . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Media, Litigation Practice, Human Rights

Updated: 12 January 2022; Ref: scu.444825

Goodwin v NGN Ltd and VBN: QBD 9 Jun 2011

The claimant had obtained an injunction preventing publication of his name and that of his coworker with whom he had had an affair. After widespread publication of his name elsewhere, the defendant had secured the discharge of the order as regards the claimant, but now it additionally sought to identify the woman involved.
Held: Tugendhat J said: ‘what is of interest to the public is not the same as what it is in the public interest to publish. Newspaper editors have the final decision on what is of interest to the public: judges have the final decision what it is in the public interest to publish.’ The newspaper had first alleged that she had been involved in deciding his severance package, but when challenged accepted that this was not true. They then said that the woman’s identity was not needed for the story. NGN then argued that she had been promoted while he was Chief Executive. Again they now accepted this was wrong. They then said that the relationship should have been disclosed, but, having been disclosed the bank had made no critism of her.
Though it was not clear that, in view of the claimant’s position, the woman would establish an expectation of privacy at trial, there are degrees of privacy, and allowing the publication of identifying details would remain a disproportionate interference in her private life, though the injunction was relaxed to allow publication of her job description. The countervailing article 10 rights did not in this case justify further intrusion.

Tugendhat J
[2011] EWHC 1437 (QB)
Bailii
European Convention on Human Rights 8 10
England and Wales
Citing:
See Also – MNB v News Group Newspapers Ltd QBD 9-Mar-2011
The defendant resisted an order preventing disclosure of information said by the claimant to be private.
Held: At the start of the hearing before herself, she had been told that the application for an interim injunction was no longer opposed. . .
See Also – Goodwin v News Group Newspapers Ltd QBD 23-May-2011
The claimant had obtained orders restricting publication by the defendant of stories of his relationship with a woman. The order had also restrained publication of their names. The names had since been revealed under parliamentary prvilege, and the . .
See Also – Goodwin v News Group Newspapers Ltd QBD 27-May-2011
An associated claimant alleged contempt against another newspaper for publishing matters so as to defeat the purposes of a privacy injunction granted to her.
Held: Even though the principle claimant had been subsequenty identified with the . .
Cited – Attorney-General v Guardian Newspapers Ltd (No 2) (‘Spycatcher’) HL 13-Oct-1988
Loss of Confidentiality Protection – public domain
A retired secret service employee sought to publish his memoirs from Australia. The British government sought to restrain publication there, and the defendants sought to report those proceedings, which would involve publication of the allegations . .
Cited – CTB v News Group Newspapers Ltd and Thomas (2) QBD 23-May-2011
The claimant had obtained a privacy injunction, but the name of the claimant had nevertheless been widey distributed on the Internet. The defendant newspaper now sought to vary the terms. The second defendant did not oppose the injunction. . .
Cited – ETK v News Group Newspapers Ltd CA 19-Apr-2011
The claimant appealed against refusal of an injunction to restrain the defendant newspaper from publishing his name in connection with a forthcoming article. The claimant had had an affair with a co-worker. Both were married. The relationship ended, . .
Cited – Thomas v News Group Newspapers Ltd and Simon Hughes CA 18-Jul-2001
A civilian police worker had reported officers for racist remarks. The newspaper repeatedly printed articles and encouraged correspondence which was racially motivated, to the acute distress of the complainant.
Held: Repeated newspaper stories . .
Cited – Campbell v Mirror Group Newspapers Ltd (MGN) (No 1) HL 6-May-2004
The claimant appealed against the denial of her claim that the defendant had infringed her right to respect for her private life. She was a model who had proclaimed publicly that she did not take drugs, but the defendant had published a story . .
Cited – Von Hannover v Germany ECHR 24-Jun-2004
Princess Caroline of Monaco who had, at some time, received considerable attention in the media throughout Europe, complained at the publication of photographs taken of her withour her permission.
Held: There was no doubt that the publication . .
Cited – Cream Holdings Limited and others v Banerjee and others HL 14-Oct-2004
On her dismissal from the claimant company, Ms Banerjee took confidential papers revealing misconduct to the local newspaper, which published some. The claimant sought an injunction to prevent any further publication. The defendants argued that the . .
Cited – In re S (a Child) (Identification: Restrictions on Publication) HL 28-Oct-2004
Inherent High Court power may restrain Publicity
The claimant child’s mother was to be tried for the murder of his brother by poisoning with salt. It was feared that the publicity which would normally attend a trial, would be damaging to S, and an application was made for reporting restrictions to . .
Cited – JIH v News Group Newspapers Ltd CA 31-Jan-2011
Principles on Request for Anonymity Order
The defendant appealed against an order granting the anonymisation of the proceeedings.
Held: The critical question is whether there is sufficient general public interest in publishing a report of proceedings which identifies a party by name, . .
Cited – Ntuli v Donald CA 16-Nov-2010
The defendant sought the discharge of a super-injunction, an order against not only the identification of the parties, but also the existence of the proceedings.
Held: The order preventing publication of the underlying allegations remained, . .
Cited – X and Y v Persons Unknown QBD 8-Nov-2006
The claimants sought an injunction against unknown persons who were said to have divulged confidential matters to newspapers. The order had been served on newspapers who now complained that the order was too uncertain to allow them to know how to . .
Cited – JIH v News Group Newspapers Ltd QBD 5-Nov-2010
The court was asked as to the circumstances under which the identity of a claimant should be protected in an action where he sought to restrain the publication of private information about him.
Held: Tugendhat J accepted the proposition . .
Cited – Ash and Another v McKennitt and others CA 14-Dec-2006
The claimant was a celebrated Canadian folk musician. The defendant, a former friend, published a story of their close friendship. The claimant said the relationship had been private, and publication infringed her privacy rights, and she obtained an . .
Cited – Murray v Big Pictures (UK) Ltd; Murray v Express Newspapers CA 7-May-2008
The claimant, a famous writer, complained on behalf of her infant son that he had been photographed in a public street with her, and that the photograph had later been published in a national newspaper. She appealed an order striking out her claim . .
Cited – Lord Browne of Madingley v Associated Newspapers Ltd CA 3-Apr-2007
The appellant sought to restrict publication by the defendants in the Mail on Sunday of matters which he said were a breach of confidence. He had lied to a court in giving evidence, whilst at the same time being ready to trash the reputation of his . .
Cited – A v The United Kingdom ECHR 17-Dec-2002
The applicant complained that the absence of legal aid to allow a challenge what had been said about her in Parliament by way of defamation, violated her right of access to court.
Held: The right to absolute parliamentary privilege was within . .
Cited – Mosley v The United Kingdom ECHR 10-May-2011
The claimant complained of the reporting of a sexual encounter which he said was private.
Held: The reporting of ‘tawdry allegations about an individual’s private life’ does not attract the robust protection under Article 10 afforded to more . .
Cited – Mosley v News Group Newspapers Ltd QBD 24-Jul-2008
The defendant published a film showing the claimant involved in sex acts with prostitutes. It characterised them as ‘Nazi’ style. He was the son of a fascist leader, and a chairman of an international sporting body. He denied any nazi element, and . .

Cited by:
Cited – In re A (A Minor) FD 8-Jul-2011
An application was made in care proceedings for an order restricting publication of information about the family after the deaths of two siblings of the child subject to the application. The Sun and a local newspaper had already published stories . .
Cited – Ferdinand v MGN Limited QBD 29-Sep-2011
The claimant, a famous footballer, complained that an article by the defendant relating an affair he had had, had infringed his right to privacy. The defendant relied on its right to freedom of expression. The claimant had at an earlier stage, and . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Media, Human Rights

Updated: 12 January 2022; Ref: scu.440470

AMM v HXW: QBD 7 Oct 2010

The claimant had sought and been granted an injunction to prevent the defendant publicising matters which had passed between them and which were he said private.
Held: The jurisdiction to grant such injunctions was now established. Publication would cause damage to the claimant’s private life, damages would not be an adequate remedy, and the defendant had not sought to argue any proper public interest in the material. The court considered its alternatives where the it was suggested that the defendant may have been guilty of blackmail, but where, as here, there had already been limited public disclosure. As in TFD at this interim stage it was not necessary to consider whether the defendant had the right to publish what she threatened.

Tugendhat J
[2010] EWHC 2457 (QB)
Bailii
Theft Act 1968 21
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Duchess of Argyll v Duke of Argyll ChD 1967
An interlocutory injunction was granted to protect against the revelation of marital confidences, and the newspaper to which the Duke had communicated such information about the Duchess was restrained from publishing it. The concept of . .
Cited – Stephens v Avery ChD 1988
The parties had been friends and had discussed their sex lives. The defendant took the information to a newspaper and its editor, the second and subsequent defendants who published it. The plaintiff sought damages saying the conversations and . .
Cited – Ash and Another v McKennitt and others CA 14-Dec-2006
The claimant was a celebrated Canadian folk musician. The defendant, a former friend, published a story of their close friendship. The claimant said the relationship had been private, and publication infringed her privacy rights, and she obtained an . .
Cited – DFT v TFD QBD 27-Sep-2010
The court heard an application for an injunction to restrain publication of material relating to the claimant’s private and sexual life.
Held: An injunction restraining publication and identification, but not an order restraining publication . .
Cited – Thorne v Motor Trade Association HL 1937
The House confirmed a declaration granted as to validity of a rule of association notwithstanding the absence of any dispute. The House considered the nature of the threat required to establish a defence of duress.
Lord Wright observed that the . .
Cited – Regina v Socialist Worker Printers and Publishers Ltd, Ex parte Attorney-General CA 1974
In a blackmail case, the court ordered non publication of the names of the complainants. Thinking they were not bound, the defendants published the names.
Held: The publishers and Mr Michael Foot were held to be in contempt of court in . .
Cited – In re an Inquiry Under The Company Securities (Insider Dealing) Act 1985 HL 1988
The term ‘necessary’ will take its colour from its context; in ordinary usage it may mean, at one end of the scale, ‘indispensable’ and at the other ‘useful’ or ‘expedient’.
Lord Griffiths said: ‘What then is meant by the words ‘necessary . . . .
Cited – Secretary of State for The Home Department v AP (No. 2) SC 23-Jun-2010
The claimant had object to a Control order made against him and against a decision that he be deported. He had been protected by an anonymity order, but the Court now considered whether it should be continued.
Held: AP had already by the . .
Cited – In re Guardian News and Media Ltd and Others; HM Treasury v Ahmed and Others SC 27-Jan-2010
Proceedings had been brought to challenge the validity of Orders in Council which had frozen the assets of the claimants in those proceedings. Ancillary orders were made and confirmed requiring them not to be identified. As the cases came to the . .
Cited – Financial Times Ltd and others v Interbrew SA CA 8-Mar-2002
The appellants appealed against orders for delivery up of papers belonging to the claimant. The paper was a market sensitive report which had been stolen and doctored before being handed to the appellant.
Held: The Ashworth Hospital case . .
Cited – X Ltd v Morgan-Grampian (Publishers) Ltd HL 1990
In a case where a contemnor not only fails wilfully and contumaciously to comply with an order of the court but makes it clear that he will continue to defy the court’s authority if the order should be affirmed on appeal, the court must have a . .

Cited by:
Cited – NNN v Ryan and Others QBD 20-Mar-2013
The Court gave its reasons for requiring the delivery up of materials said to be confidential and making an order for anonymity, finding that the claimant had been blackmailed. . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Media, Family, Litigation Practice

Updated: 12 January 2022; Ref: scu.424970

CTB v News Group Newspapers Ltd and Another (1): QBD 16 May 2011

A leading footballer had obtained an injunction restraining the defendants from publishing his identity and allegations of sexual misconduct. The claimant said that she had demanded money not to go public.
Held: It had not been suggested that there was any proper public interest in the proposed publication, and balancing the article 10 and 8 rights on the facts of the case, the injunction should continue.
Eady J denied any recent creation of a right of privacy by the courts, saying: ‘The courts are required to carry out a balancing exercise between competing Convention rights, as was always overtly acknowledged by the government prior to the enactment of the Human Rights Act 1998. It was, for example, explained by the then Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine, when the bill was before the House of Lords on 24 November 1997 (Hansard, HL Debates, Col.785). He said that any privacy law developed by the judges following the enactment would be a better law because they would have to balance and have regard to both Article 8 and Article 10 (as indeed has been happening over the last decade). When the statute came into effect in October 2000, it explicitly required the courts to take into account Strasbourg jurisprudence when discharging those responsibilities.
Despite this long history, it has for several years been repeatedly claimed in media reports that courts are ‘introducing a law of privacy by the back door’. Yet the principles have long been open to scrutiny. They are readily apparent from the terms of the Human Rights Act, and indeed from the content of the European Convention itself. Furthermore, they were clearly expounded seven years ago in two decisions of the House of Lords which was, of course, at that time the highest court in this jurisdiction: Campbell v MGN Ltd [2004] 2 AC 457 and Re S (A Child) [2005] 1 AC 593.
Since those decisions were promulgated in 2004, the law has been loyally applied by the courts in a wide variety of circumstances and exhaustively explained in numerous appellate judgments. ‘

Eady J
[2011] EWHC 1232 (QB)
Bailii
European Convention on Human Rights 8 10
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Ambrosiadou v Coward CA 12-Apr-2011
The claimant appealed against a refusal to continue an injunction restricting publication of documents filed within divorce ancillary relief proceedings. . .
Cited – Ntuli v Donald CA 16-Nov-2010
The defendant sought the discharge of a super-injunction, an order against not only the identification of the parties, but also the existence of the proceedings.
Held: The order preventing publication of the underlying allegations remained, . .
Cited – ETK v News Group Newspapers Ltd CA 19-Apr-2011
The claimant appealed against refusal of an injunction to restrain the defendant newspaper from publishing his name in connection with a forthcoming article. The claimant had had an affair with a co-worker. Both were married. The relationship ended, . .
Applied – JIH v News Group Newspapers Ltd CA 31-Jan-2011
Principles on Request for Anonymity Order
The defendant appealed against an order granting the anonymisation of the proceeedings.
Held: The critical question is whether there is sufficient general public interest in publishing a report of proceedings which identifies a party by name, . .
Cited – Campbell v Mirror Group Newspapers Ltd (MGN) (No 1) HL 6-May-2004
The claimant appealed against the denial of her claim that the defendant had infringed her right to respect for her private life. She was a model who had proclaimed publicly that she did not take drugs, but the defendant had published a story . .
Cited – Murray v Big Pictures (UK) Ltd; Murray v Express Newspapers CA 7-May-2008
The claimant, a famous writer, complained on behalf of her infant son that he had been photographed in a public street with her, and that the photograph had later been published in a national newspaper. She appealed an order striking out her claim . .
Cited – In re S (a Child) (Identification: Restrictions on Publication) HL 28-Oct-2004
Inherent High Court power may restrain Publicity
The claimant child’s mother was to be tried for the murder of his brother by poisoning with salt. It was feared that the publicity which would normally attend a trial, would be damaging to S, and an application was made for reporting restrictions to . .
Cited – Lord Browne of Madingley v Associated Newspapers Ltd CA 3-Apr-2007
The appellant sought to restrict publication by the defendants in the Mail on Sunday of matters which he said were a breach of confidence. He had lied to a court in giving evidence, whilst at the same time being ready to trash the reputation of his . .
Cited – Associated Newspapers Ltd v Prince of Wales CA 21-Dec-2006
The defendant newspaper appealed summary judgment against it for breach of confidence and copyright infringement having published the claimant’s journals which he said were private.
Held: Upheld, although the judge had given insufficient . .
Cited – Douglas and others v Hello! Ltd and others (No 3) CA 18-May-2005
The principal claimants sold the rights to take photographs of their wedding to a co-claimant magazine (OK). Persons acting on behalf of the defendants took unauthorised photographs which the defendants published. The claimants had retained joint . .
Cited – Ash and Another v McKennitt and others CA 14-Dec-2006
The claimant was a celebrated Canadian folk musician. The defendant, a former friend, published a story of their close friendship. The claimant said the relationship had been private, and publication infringed her privacy rights, and she obtained an . .
Cited – Attorney-General v Guardian Newspapers Ltd (No 2) (‘Spycatcher’) HL 13-Oct-1988
Loss of Confidentiality Protection – public domain
A retired secret service employee sought to publish his memoirs from Australia. The British government sought to restrain publication there, and the defendants sought to report those proceedings, which would involve publication of the allegations . .
Cited – ASG v GSA CA 21-Aug-2009
Appeal against refusal of a without notice injunction preventing publication of information said to be confidential. . .
Cited – HM Attorney General v Seckerson and Times Newspapers Ltd Admn 13-May-2009
The first defendant had been foreman of a jury in a criminal trial. He was accused of disclosing details of the jury’s votes and their considerations with concerns about the expert witnesses to the second defendant. The parties disputed the extent . .
Cited – Von Hannover v Germany ECHR 24-Jun-2004
Princess Caroline of Monaco who had, at some time, received considerable attention in the media throughout Europe, complained at the publication of photographs taken of her withour her permission.
Held: There was no doubt that the publication . .
Cited – Mosley v News Group Newspapers Ltd QBD 24-Jul-2008
The defendant published a film showing the claimant involved in sex acts with prostitutes. It characterised them as ‘Nazi’ style. He was the son of a fascist leader, and a chairman of an international sporting body. He denied any nazi element, and . .
Cited – X and Y v Persons Unknown QBD 8-Nov-2006
The claimants sought an injunction against unknown persons who were said to have divulged confidential matters to newspapers. The order had been served on newspapers who now complained that the order was too uncertain to allow them to know how to . .
Cited – Regina v Broadcasting Complaints Commission Ex Parte Granada Television Ltd CA 16-Dec-1994
The Broadasting Complaints Commission had been established to determine questions of privacy, and the courts should be slow to intervene. The right of privacy of an individual had not been lost by past publicity. That privacy had been infringed by . .
Cited – Mosley v The United Kingdom ECHR 10-May-2011
The claimant complained of the reporting of a sexual encounter which he said was private.
Held: The reporting of ‘tawdry allegations about an individual’s private life’ does not attract the robust protection under Article 10 afforded to more . .
Cited – Jameel v Wall Street Journal Europe Sprl HL 11-Oct-2006
The House was asked as to the capacity of a limited company to sue for damage to its reputation, where it had no trading activity within the jurisdiction, and as to the extent of the Reynolds defence. The defendants/appellants had published an . .
Cited – Venables and Thompson v News Group Newspapers and others QBD 8-Jan-2001
Where it was necessary to protect life, an order could be made to protect the privacy of individuals, by disallowing publication of any material which might identify them. Two youths had been convicted of a notorious murder when they were ten, and . .
Cited – Cream Holdings Limited and others v Banerjee and others HL 14-Oct-2004
On her dismissal from the claimant company, Ms Banerjee took confidential papers revealing misconduct to the local newspaper, which published some. The claimant sought an injunction to prevent any further publication. The defendants argued that the . .

Cited by:
See Also – CTB v News Group Newspapers Ltd and Another (3) QBD 23-May-2011
The defendant applied to be released from an injunction protecting the claimant’s privacy. It said that the claimant’s identity had been revealed on Twitter and now by a member of parliament in parliament.
Held: The application was refused. . .
See Also – CTB v News Group Newspapers Ltd and Thomas (2) QBD 23-May-2011
The claimant had obtained a privacy injunction, but the name of the claimant had nevertheless been widey distributed on the Internet. The defendant newspaper now sought to vary the terms. The second defendant did not oppose the injunction. . .
Cited – OPO v MLA and Another CA 9-Oct-2014
The claimant child sought to prevent publication by his father of an autobiography which, he said, would be likely to cause him psychological harm. The father was well known classical musician who said that he had himself suffered sexual abuse as a . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Media, Human Rights

Updated: 12 January 2022; Ref: scu.439743

CTB v News Group Newspapers Ltd and Thomas (2): QBD 23 May 2011

The claimant had obtained a privacy injunction, but the name of the claimant had nevertheless been widey distributed on the Internet. The defendant newspaper now sought to vary the terms. The second defendant did not oppose the injunction. Additionally the claimant said that given that the defendant claimed to have clean hands in the matter, it should provide disclosure of dicuments which might support or undermine that claim.
Held: The applications failed. That the defendant still wanted to pubish the story was itself evidence that there remained some privacy to protect, and: ‘the right question for me to ask . . is whether there is a solid reason why the Claimant’s identity should be generally revealed in the national media, such as to outweigh the legitimate interests of himself and his family in maintaining anonymity. The answer is as yet in the negative. They would be engulfed in a cruel and destructive media frenzy. Sadly, that may become unavoidable in the society in which we now live but, for the moment, in so far as I am being asked to sanction it, I decline to do so.’
The defendant having reduced its ‘clean hands’ claim to one of there being no evidence to contradict it, detailed disclosure remained unnecessary at this stage. The court also bore in mind that such a search might reveal criminal attempts to undermine the court order, and this would require consideration of the laws against requiring self-incrimination.
Eady considered the argument that the information was already in the public domain: ‘one reason why it can be important to distinguish between the was the law approaches public domain arguments in relation to commercial or state secrets, for example, and that which is appropriate to personal information. It also largely explains why it is the case that the truth of falsity of the allegations in question can often be irrelevant: see e.g. McKennitt v Ash [2008] QB 73 . . It is fairly obvious that wall-to-wall excoriation in national newspapers . . is likely to be significantly more intrusive and distressing for those concerned than the availability of information on the internet or in foreign journals to those, however many, who take the trouble to look it up. Moreover, with each exposure of personal information or allegations, whether by way of visual images or verbally, there is a new intrusion and occasion for distress or embarrassment . . For so long as the court is in a position to prevent some of that intrusion and distress, depending on individual circumstances, it may be appropriate to maintain that degree of protection. The analogy with King Canute to some extent, therefore, breaks down.’

Eady J
[2011] EWHC 1326 (QB)
Bailii
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Cobra Golf Inc and Another v Rata and Others ChD 11-Oct-1996
An Anton Piller order was wrongfully made where it was used in order to get information to found a later prosecution. The privilege against self incrimination is available under Section 14 of the 1968 Act in contempt proceedings despite the fact . .
Cited – Dendron Gmbh and others v Regents of University of California and Another PatC 23-Mar-2004
The claimants sought letters of request to obtain evidence to support applications they wished to make, including onme before the European Patents Office.
Held: The EPO when involved in opposition proceedings was not a domestic court, and . .
Cited – Attorney-General v Guardian Newspapers Ltd (No 2) (‘Spycatcher’) HL 13-Oct-1988
Loss of Confidentiality Protection – public domain
A retired secret service employee sought to publish his memoirs from Australia. The British government sought to restrain publication there, and the defendants sought to report those proceedings, which would involve publication of the allegations . .
See Also – CTB v News Group Newspapers Ltd and Another (1) QBD 16-May-2011
A leading footballer had obtained an injunction restraining the defendants from publishing his identity and allegations of sexual misconduct. The claimant said that she had demanded money not to go public.
Held: It had not been suggested that . .

Cited by:
Cited – CTB v News Group Newspapers Ltd and Another (3) QBD 23-May-2011
The defendant applied to be released from an injunction protecting the claimant’s privacy. It said that the claimant’s identity had been revealed on Twitter and now by a member of parliament in parliament.
Held: The application was refused. . .
Cited – Goodwin v NGN Ltd and VBN QBD 9-Jun-2011
The claimant had obtained an injunction preventing publication of his name and that of his coworker with whom he had had an affair. After widespread publication of his name elsewhere, the defendant had secured the discharge of the order as regards . .
Cited – Hutcheson (Formerly Known As ‘KGM’) v News Group Newspapers Ltd and Others CA 19-Jul-2011
The claimant appealed against the refusal of a privacy order, protecting his identity in his claim.
Held: The appeal was refused. That Article 8 was ‘engaged’ was not conclusive of the question whether the claimant enjoyed a reasonable . .
Cited – In re A (A Minor) FD 8-Jul-2011
An application was made in care proceedings for an order restricting publication of information about the family after the deaths of two siblings of the child subject to the application. The Sun and a local newspaper had already published stories . .
Cited – PJS v News Group Newspapers Ltd SC 19-May-2016
The appellants had applied for restrictions on the publication of stories about their extra marital affairs. The Court of Appeal had removed the restrictions on the basis that the story had been widely spread outside the jurisdiction both on the . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Media, Human Rights, Litigation Practice

Updated: 12 January 2022; Ref: scu.440085

CTB v News Group Newspapers Ltd and Another (3): QBD 23 May 2011

The defendant applied to be released from an injunction protecting the claimant’s privacy. It said that the claimant’s identity had been revealed on Twitter and now by a member of parliament in parliament.
Held: The application was refused. The purposes of such a privacy order included also protecting the claimant and his family from harassment. Though some of the purpose of the order might have been lost, if ‘the purpose of this injunction were to preserve a secret, it would have failed in its purpose. But in so far as its purpose is to prevent intrusion or harassment, it has not failed. The fact that tens of thousands of people have named the claimant on the internet confirms that the claimant and his family need protection from intrusion into their private and family life. The fact that a question has been asked in Parliament seems to me to increase, and not to diminish the strength of his case that he and his family need that protection. The order has not protected the claimant and his family from taunting on the internet. It is still effective to protect them from taunting and other intrusion and harassment in the print media.’

Tugendhat J
[2011] EWHC 1334 (QB)
Bailii
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – CTB v News Group Newspapers Ltd and Thomas (2) QBD 23-May-2011
The claimant had obtained a privacy injunction, but the name of the claimant had nevertheless been widey distributed on the Internet. The defendant newspaper now sought to vary the terms. The second defendant did not oppose the injunction. . .
See Also – CTB v News Group Newspapers Ltd and Another (1) QBD 16-May-2011
A leading footballer had obtained an injunction restraining the defendants from publishing his identity and allegations of sexual misconduct. The claimant said that she had demanded money not to go public.
Held: It had not been suggested that . .

Cited by:
Cited – PJS v News Group Newspapers Ltd SC 19-May-2016
The appellants had applied for restrictions on the publication of stories about their extra marital affairs. The Court of Appeal had removed the restrictions on the basis that the story had been widely spread outside the jurisdiction both on the . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Media, Litigation Practice

Updated: 12 January 2022; Ref: scu.440195

DFT v TFD: QBD 27 Sep 2010

The court heard an application for an injunction to restrain publication of material relating to the claimant’s private and sexual life.
Held: An injunction restraining publication and identification, but not an order restraining publication of the order itself was made. Sharp J said: ‘[Counsel for the Claimant] submits that looking at the matter from the perspective of Article 8, there is a plain interference with the applicant’s right to respect for privacy and family life which cannot be justified under Article 8(2).
As to the Article 10 rights of the respondent, the evidence before me currently suggests the applicant is likely to establish at trial that disclosure of the information (whether to the media or generally) would be the fulfilment of a blackmailing threat. I accept [Counsel for the Claimant]’s submission that the expression rights of blackmailers are extremely weak (if they are engaged at all)
Any provisions derogating from the principles of open justice and the provisions of the CPR must be necessary on the facts of the case . .
[Counsel for the Claimant] submits [that the anonymity order] should remain in place until trial or further order. Anonymity orders have been considered twice by the Supreme Court in 2010; and he has referred me to the judgment given by Lord Rodger in Secretary of State for the Home Department v AP (No. 2) [2010] UKSC 26 where he summarises the test to be applied as follows: ‘the Court must ask itself ‘whether there is sufficient general, public interest in publishing a report of the proceedings which identifies [AP] to justify any resulting curtailment of his right and his family’s right to respect for their private and family life.’
He submits the answer to this question in the present case is plainly ‘no’. In particular, he says the publication of the applicant’s name would lead to large scale media intrusion which would, in itself, constitute a very substantial intrusion into his private and family life and would be very distressing for him and his family. There is in addition a very strong public interest in the prevention of blackmail and in encouraging victims of blackmail not to give in. It would be contrary to that public interest to publish the fact that the applicant was being blackmailed. As a result, all that any report of the proceedings could do would be to identify the applicant as the person who has obtained an injunction . .
I also consider [Counsel for the Claimant] is right when he says the blackmail element of this case brings extremely strong public interest considerations into play. The fact that the applicant has been blackmailed should not be published . . .’

Sharp J
[2010] EWHC 2335 (QB)
Bailii
European Convention on Human Rights 8 10, Theft Act 1968 21
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – AMM v HXW QBD 7-Oct-2010
The claimant had sought and been granted an injunction to prevent the defendant publicising matters which had passed between them and which were he said private.
Held: The jurisdiction to grant such injunctions was now established. Publication . .
Cited – NNN v Ryan and Others QBD 20-Mar-2013
The Court gave its reasons for requiring the delivery up of materials said to be confidential and making an order for anonymity, finding that the claimant had been blackmailed. . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Litigation Practice, Media

Updated: 12 January 2022; Ref: scu.424883

Mosley v News Group Newspapers Ltd: QBD 24 Jul 2008

The defendant published a film showing the claimant involved in sex acts with prostitutes. It characterised them as ‘Nazi’ style. He was the son of a fascist leader, and a chairman of an international sporting body. He denied any nazi element, and claimed in breach of confidence.
Held: ‘The law [of confidence] now affords protection to information in respect of which there is a reasonable expectation of privacy, even in circumstances where there is no pre-existing relationship giving rise of itself to an enforceable duty of confidence. That is because the law is concerned to prevent the violation of a citizen’s autonomy, dignity and self-esteem. It is not simply a matter of ‘unaccountable’ judges running amok. Parliament enacted the 1998 statute which requires these values to be acknowledged and enforced by the courts.’ The clandestine recording of sexual activity on private property must be taken to engage Article 8. What requires closer examination is the extent to which such intrusive behaviour could be justified by reference to a countervailing public interest.
As to the application for exemplary damages, the extension of such awards to cases involving breach of confidence would no doubt have to be dealt with at the House of Lords. However, there was another factor which ‘probably’ had to be taken into account, namely vindication to mark the infringement of the right.
Eady J considered the criticism of CC v AB in its moral relativism. It was ‘largely because of a failure to appreciate the task which judges are now required to carry out in the context of the rights-based environment introduced by the Human Rights Act, hitherto largely unfamiliar in our common law tradition. In deciding whether a right has been infringed, and in assessing the relative worth of competing rights, it is not for judges to make individual moral judgments or to be swayed by personal distaste. It is not simply a matter of personal privacy versus the public interest. The modern perception is that there is a public interest in respecting personal privacy. It is thus a question of taking account of conflicting public interest considerations and evaluating them according to increasingly well recognised criteria. ‘

Eady J
[2008] EWHC 1777 (QB), [2008] EMLR 20
Bailii
European Convention on Human Rights 8 10
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Attorney-General v Guardian Newspapers Ltd (No 2) (‘Spycatcher’) HL 13-Oct-1988
Loss of Confidentiality Protection – public domain
A retired secret service employee sought to publish his memoirs from Australia. The British government sought to restrain publication there, and the defendants sought to report those proceedings, which would involve publication of the allegations . .
Cited – Douglas, Zeta Jones, Northern and Shell Plc v Hello! Limited (No 1) CA 21-Dec-2000
The first two claimants sold exclusive rights to photograph their wedding to the third claimant. A paparrazzi infiltrated the wedding and then sold his unauthorised photographs to the defendants, who now appealed injunctions restraining them from . .
Cited – D v L CA 31-Jul-2003
L and D lived together. Fearing the breakdown of the relationship, L used a voice activated recorder to record their conversations. D sought an order to restrain their publication after elements appeared in national newspapers. The court also . .
Cited – Campbell v Mirror Group Newspapers Ltd (MGN) (No 1) HL 6-May-2004
The claimant appealed against the denial of her claim that the defendant had infringed her right to respect for her private life. She was a model who had proclaimed publicly that she did not take drugs, but the defendant had published a story . .
Cited – In re S (a Child) (Identification: Restrictions on Publication) HL 28-Oct-2004
Inherent High Court power may restrain Publicity
The claimant child’s mother was to be tried for the murder of his brother by poisoning with salt. It was feared that the publicity which would normally attend a trial, would be damaging to S, and an application was made for reporting restrictions to . .
Cited – Ash and Another v McKennitt and others CA 14-Dec-2006
The claimant was a celebrated Canadian folk musician. The defendant, a former friend, published a story of their close friendship. The claimant said the relationship had been private, and publication infringed her privacy rights, and she obtained an . .
Cited – Aubry v Editions Vice-Versa Inc 9-Apr-1998
(Supreme Court of Canada) Publication in a magazine of an unauthorised photograph of a 17 year old girl sitting on the steps of a public building had violated her right to respect for private life conferred under Article 5 of the ‘Quebec Charter’ of . .
Cited – Peck v The United Kingdom ECHR 28-Jan-2003
peck_ukECHR2003
The claimant had been filmed by CCTV. He had, after attempting suicide, left home with a knife, been arrested by the police and disarmed, but then sent home without charge. The CCTV film was used on several occasions to advertise the effectiveness . .
Cited – Dudgeon v The United Kingdom ECHR 22-Oct-1981
ECHR (Plenary Court) Legislation in Northern Ireland that criminalised homosexual behaviour which was lawful in the rest of the UK.
Held: There was a violation of article 8, but it was not necessary to . .
Cited – Laskey, Jaggard and Brown v The United Kingdom ECHR 19-Feb-1997
A prosecution for sado-masochist acts was a necessary invasion of privacy to protect health. The Court found no violation where applicants were imprisoned as a result of sado-masochistic activities captured on video tape when police obtained . .
Cited – Fressoz and Roire v France ECHR 21-Jan-1999
Le Canard Enchaine published the salary of M Calvet, the chairman of Peugeot, (which was publicly available information) and also, by way of confirmation, photographs of the relevant part of his tax assessment, which was confidential and could not . .
Cited – Tammer v Estonia ECHR 6-Feb-2001
Freedom of expression constitutes one of the essential foundations of a democratic society and one of the basic conditions for its progress and the self-fulfilment of each individual. Criminal penalties imposed in respect of the reporting of a . .
Cited – PG and JH v The United Kingdom ECHR 25-Sep-2001
The use of covert listening devices within a police station was an infringement of the right to privacy, since there was no system of law regulating such practices. That need not affect the right to a fair trial. The prosecution had a duty to . .
Cited – Murray v Big Pictures (UK) Ltd; Murray v Express Newspapers CA 7-May-2008
The claimant, a famous writer, complained on behalf of her infant son that he had been photographed in a public street with her, and that the photograph had later been published in a national newspaper. She appealed an order striking out her claim . .
Cited – Theakston v MGN Ltd QBD 14-Feb-2002
The claimant, a celebrity sought to restrain publication by the defendant of information about his sex life, consisting of pictures of him in a brothel. The court considered the test for the grant of an injunction to restrain publication under the . .
Cited – Craxi (No. 2) ECHR 17-Jul-2003
Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Violation of Art. 8 with regard to release of transcripts into the public domain ; Violation of Art. 8 with regard to reading out of transcripts at trial ; Pecuniary . .
Cited – ADT v United Kingdom ECHR 4-Aug-2000
The UK law which had the effect of prohibiting non-violent homosexual acts by groups of males, was a violation of the right to respect for his private life. The law went beyond that which might properly be required in a democratic society for the . .
Cited – Silver v United Kingdom ECHR 1980
(Commission) Complaint was made as to the censorship of prisoners’ correspondence. The censorship of prisoners’ correspondence was ancillary to prison rules restricting the contents of correspondence. The Commission, therefore, and the Court had to . .
Cited – Regina v Brown (Anthony); Regina v Lucas; etc HL 11-Mar-1993
The appellants had been convicted of assault, after having engaged in consensual acts of sado-masochism in which they inflicted varying degreees of physical self harm. They had pleaded guilty after a ruling that the prosecution had not needed to . .
Cited – Reynolds v Times Newspapers Ltd and others HL 28-Oct-1999
Fair Coment on Political Activities
The defendant newspaper had published articles wrongly accusing the claimant, the former Prime Minister of Ireland of duplicity. The paper now appealed, saying that it should have had available to it a defence of qualified privilege because of the . .
Cited – CC v AB QBD 4-Dec-2006
The claimant sought an order to prevent the defendant and others from making it known that the claimant had had an adulterous relationship with the defendant’s wife. . .
Cited – Polanski v Conde Nast Publications Ltd HL 10-Feb-2005
The claimant wished to pursue his claim for defamation against the defendant, but was reluctant to return to the UK to give evidence, fearing arrest and extradition to the US. He appealed refusal of permission to be interviewed on video tape. Held . .
Cited – Rookes v Barnard (No 1) HL 21-Jan-1964
The court set down the conditions for the award of exemplary damages. There are two categories. The first is where there has been oppressive or arbitrary conduct by a defendant. Cases in the second category are those in which the defendant’s conduct . .
Cited – Cassell and Co Ltd v Broome and Another HL 23-Feb-1972
Exemplary Damages Award in Defamation
The plaintiff had been awarded damages for defamation. The defendants pleaded justification. Before the trial the plaintiff gave notice that he wanted additional, exemplary, damages. The trial judge said that such a claim had to have been pleaded. . .
Cited – Leempoel and SA ED Cine Revue v Belgium ECHR 9-Nov-2006
‘In matters relating to striking a balance between protecting private life and the freedom of expression that the Court had had to rule upon, it has always emphasised . . the requirement that the publication of information, documents or photographs . .
Cited – Francome v Mirror Group Newspapers Ltd CA 1984
The defendant had acquired illegal tapes of telephone conversations which it said implicated the plaintiff. He sought to restrain publication of the material pending forthcoming discliplinary charges at the Jockey Club.
Held: The court had to . .
Cited – Kuddus v Chief Constable of Leicestershire Constabulary HL 7-Jun-2001
There is no rule of law preventing the award of exemplary damages against police officers. The fact that no case of misfeasance in public office had led to such awards before 1964, did not prevent such an award now. Although damages are generally . .
Cited – Kitetechnology v Unicor GmbH Plastmaschinen 1995
It would not be correct to describe a infringement of breach of privacy as a tort. . .
Cited – Z Ltd v A-Z and AA-LL CA 1982
The plaintiffs, an overseas company with an office in London had been defrauded here. They sought and obtained Mareva injunctions against defendants and against six clearing banks. The banks sought clarification of their duties.
Held: The . .
Cited – Maxwell v Pressdram Ltd CA 1987
The court was asked whether disclosure should be ordered in the context of the statutory privilege which was created by s.10 of the 1981 Act. The publisher defendant had deposed that it would justify the material. At trial, however, the defence of . .
Cited – Rowlands v Chief Constable of Merseyside Police CA 20-Dec-2006
The claimant succeeded in her claims for general damages against the respondent for personal injury, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution, but appealed refusal of the court to award aggravated damages against the chief constable.
Held: . .
Cited – Tolstoy Miloslavsky v United Kingdom ECHR 19-Jul-1995
The applicant had been required to pay andpound;124,900 as security for the respondent’s costs as a condition of his appeal against an award of damages in a defamation case.
Held: It followed from established case law that article 6(1) did not . .
Cited – John v MGN Ltd CA 12-Dec-1995
Defamation – Large Damages Awards
MGN appealed as to the level of damages awarded against it namely pounds 350,000 damages, comprising pounds 75,000 compensatory damages and pounds 275,000 exemplary damages. The newspaper contended that as a matter of principle there is no scope in . .
Cited – Jones v Pollard, Mirror Group Newspapers Limited and Bailey CA 12-Dec-1996
Articles in consecutive issues of The Sunday Mirror accused the plaintiff of pimping for the KGB, organising sex with prostitutes for visiting British businessmen and then blackmailing them. The defendants pleaded justification. The plaintiff . .
Cited – Ashley and Another v Chief Constable of Sussex Police HL 23-Apr-2008
The claimants sought to bring an action for damages after a family member suspected of dealing drugs, was shot by the police. At the time he was naked. The police officer had been acquitted by a criminal court of murder. The chief constable now . .
Cited – Chester v Afshar HL 14-Oct-2004
The claimant suffered back pain for which she required neurosurgery. The operation was associated with a 1-2% risk of the cauda equina syndrome, of which she was not warned. She went ahead with the surgery, and suffered that complication. The . .
Cited – Archer v Williams QBD 3-Jul-2003
The claimant brought an action for breach of confidence against a former employee. . .
Cited – Bonnick v Morris, The Gleaner Company Ltd and Allen PC 17-Jun-2002
(Jamaica) The appellant sought damages from the respondent journalists in defamation. They had claimed qualified privilege. The words alleged to be defamatory were ambiguous.
Held: The publishers were protected by Reynolds privilege. The court . .
See Also – Mosley v News Group Newspapers Ltd QBD 9-Apr-2008
The claimant sought to continue an interim injunction requiring the defendant not to publish a film on its website.
Held: A claimant’s Article 8 rights may be engaged even where the information in question has been previously publicised. . .

Cited by:
Cited – Callaghan v Independent News and Media Ltd QBNI 7-Jan-2009
callaghan_inmQBNI2009
The claimant was convicted in 1987 of a callous sexual murder. He sought an order preventing the defendant newspaper publishing anything to allow his or his family’s identification and delay his release. The defendant acknowledged the need to avoid . .
Cited – Lumba (WL) v Secretary of State for The Home Department SC 23-Mar-2011
The claimants had been detained under the 1971 Act, after completing sentences of imprisonment pending their return to their home countries under deportations recommended by the judges at trial, or chosen by the respondent. They challenged as . .
See Also – Mosley v The United Kingdom ECHR 22-Oct-2009
. .
See Also – Mosley v The United Kingdom ECHR 10-May-2011
The claimant complained of the reporting of a sexual encounter which he said was private.
Held: The reporting of ‘tawdry allegations about an individual’s private life’ does not attract the robust protection under Article 10 afforded to more . .
Cited – CTB v News Group Newspapers Ltd and Another (1) QBD 16-May-2011
A leading footballer had obtained an injunction restraining the defendants from publishing his identity and allegations of sexual misconduct. The claimant said that she had demanded money not to go public.
Held: It had not been suggested that . .
Cited – Goodwin v NGN Ltd and VBN QBD 9-Jun-2011
The claimant had obtained an injunction preventing publication of his name and that of his coworker with whom he had had an affair. After widespread publication of his name elsewhere, the defendant had secured the discharge of the order as regards . .
Cited – Ferdinand v MGN Limited QBD 29-Sep-2011
The claimant, a famous footballer, complained that an article by the defendant relating an affair he had had, had infringed his right to privacy. The defendant relied on its right to freedom of expression. The claimant had at an earlier stage, and . .
Cited – Hannon and Another v News Group Newspapers Ltd and Another ChD 16-May-2014
The claimants alleged infringement of their privacy, saying that the defendant newspaper had purchased private information from police officers emplyed by the second defendant, and published them. The defendants now applied for the claims to be . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Defamation, Media, Human Rights, Damages

Leading Case

Updated: 12 January 2022; Ref: scu.271044

X, A Woman Formerly Known As Mary Bell v Stephen O’Brien, News Group Newspapers Ltd MGN Ltd: QBD 21 May 2003

An injunction effective against the world, was granted to restrain any act to identify the claimant in the media, including the Internet. She had been convicted of murder when a child, and had since had a child herself. An order had been granted protecting her and her child until the child was 18. She now sought continuation of that order.
Held: The court has to be extremely cautious in approaching applications for lifetime anonymity under article 8. It could not be said in this case that the applicants faced threats to their lives. Nevertheless, Mary Bell still suffered mental health problems. It was impossible to separate out the life of her daughter even though an adult. The public interest had been served by full discussion of the case, and the only matters sought to be ptotected were those relating to identity. ‘It would be wrong for the court to find that the notoriety which may follow the commission of serious offences would of itself entitle the offender upon release from prison to injunctions based upon the interference to his private and family life caused by press intrusion. That would open the floodgates to widespread injunctions for criminals and would be contrary to the protection rightly afforded to freedom of expression . . ‘ In this case the balance lay in favour of the grant of the injunction.

Right Honourable Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, the President of the Family Division
[2003] EWHC QB 1101, [2003] 2 FCR 686
Bailii
European Convention on Human Rights 8 10
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Re X (A Minor)(Wardship Injunction) 1984
An order was made preventing the identification of Mary Bell. She had been convicted of murder as a child, after leaving prison and taking a new identity, she had a child, and the order was made to protect the child until she was 18. . .
Cited – Attorney-General v Guardian Newspapers Ltd (No 2) (‘Spycatcher’) HL 13-Oct-1988
Loss of Confidentiality Protection – public domain
A retired secret service employee sought to publish his memoirs from Australia. The British government sought to restrain publication there, and the defendants sought to report those proceedings, which would involve publication of the allegations . .
Cited – Campbell v Mirror Group Newspapers plc CA 14-Oct-2002
The newspaper appealed against a finding that it had infringed the claimant’s privacy by publishing a photograph of her leaving a drug addiction clinic.
Held: The claimant had courted publicity, and denied an involvement in drugs. The defence . .
Cited – X and Y v The Netherlands ECHR 26-Mar-1985
A parent complained to the police about a sexual assault on his daughter a mentally defective girl of 16. The prosecutor’s office decided not to prosecute provided the accused did not repeat the offence. X appealed against the decision and requested . .
Cited – Botta v Italy ECHR 24-Feb-1998
The claimant, who was disabled, said that his Article 8 rights were infringed because, in breach of Italian law, there were no facilities to enable him to get to the sea when he went on holiday.
Held: ‘Private life . . includes a person’s . .
Cited – Bensaid v The United Kingdom ECHR 6-Feb-2001
The applicant was a schizophrenic and an illegal immigrant. He claimed that his removal to Algeria would deprive him of essential medical treatment and sever ties that he had developed in the UK that were important for his well-being. He claimed . .
Cited – Nicholls v BBC 1999
Injunction granted to protect new identity of ‘supergrass’ . .
Cited – A v B plc and Another (Flitcroft v MGN Ltd) CA 11-Mar-2002
A newspaper company appealed against an order preventing it naming a footballer who, they claimed, had been unfaithful to his wife.
Held: There remains a distinction between the right of privacy which attaches to sexual activities within and . .
Cited – Venables and Thompson v News Group Newspapers and others QBD 8-Jan-2001
Where it was necessary to protect life, an order could be made to protect the privacy of individuals, by disallowing publication of any material which might identify them. Two youths had been convicted of a notorious murder when they were ten, and . .
Cited – Re D (a minor) (adoption order: validity) 1991
The grant of an injunction during the continuance of a wardship does not of itself entitle a child to a continuing injunction after reaching adulthood. . .

Cited by:
Cited – E v Channel Four, News International Ltd and St Helens Borough Council FD 1-Jun-2005
The applicant sought an order restraining publication by the defendants of material, saying she did not have capacity to consent to the publication. She suffered a multiple personality disorder. She did herself however clearly wish the film to be . .
Cited – In re A (A Minor) FD 8-Jul-2011
An application was made in care proceedings for an order restricting publication of information about the family after the deaths of two siblings of the child subject to the application. The Sun and a local newspaper had already published stories . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Media, Human Rights

Updated: 12 January 2022; Ref: scu.185469

British Broadcasting Company v Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council and X and Y: FD 24 Nov 2005

Application was made by the claimant for orders discharging an order made in 1991 to protect the identity of children and social workers embroiled in allegations of satanic sex abuse. The defendant opposed disclosure of the names of two social workers.
Held: The names of the social workers had been withheld originally to protect the identity of the children. The local authority’s request for the continuation of the orders was refused. Any delay had not been sufficiently detrimental to prevent them defending themselves.
Ryder J said: ‘article 8 of the Convention protects the right to establish, maintain and develop relationships with other human beings’.

Ryder J
[2005] EWHC 2862 (Fam), [2007] 1 FLR 101, [2006] EMLR 117
Bailii
European Convention on Human Rights 8
England and Wales
Citing:
See Also – Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council v A 1991
Ten children were taken into care amid allegations of ritual satanic sex abuse.
Held: the allegations were not proved. All but four of the children were returned home. Injunctions were granted to protect the identify of the children and of the . .
Cited – In re Manda CA 1993
A wardship court can extend its protection beyond the age of majority where a public interest was identified that required it. Whilst those who give evidence in child proceedings can normally assume that their evidence will remain confidential, they . .
Cited – Kent County Council v The Mother, The Father, B (By Her Children’s Guardian); Re B (A Child) (Disclosure) FD 19-Mar-2004
The council had taken the applicant’s children into care alleging that the mother had harmed them. In the light of the subsequent cases casting doubt on such findings, the mother sought the return of her children. She applied now that the hearings . .
Cited – Scott v Scott HL 5-May-1913
Presumption in Favour of Open Proceedings
There had been an unauthorised dissemination by the petitioner to third parties of the official shorthand writer’s notes of a nullity suit which had been heard in camera. An application was made for a committal for contempt.
Held: The House . .
Cited – Axen v Germany ECHR 8-Dec-1983
‘The public character of proceedings before the judicial bodies referred to in Article 6(1) protects litigants against the administration of justice in secret with no public scrutiny; it is also one of the means whereby confidence in the courts, . .
Cited – K v United Kingdom 1986
The existence of a close personal relationship between adults and their children or as between adults and their own parents will of necessity be capable of being construed as family life. . .
Cited – A Local Authority v W L W T and R; In re W (Children) (Identification: Restrictions on Publication) FD 14-Jul-2005
An application was made by a local authority to restrict publication of the name of a defendant in criminal proceedings in order to protect children in their care. The mother was accused of having assaulted the second respondent by knowingly . .
Cited – In re S (a Child) (Identification: Restrictions on Publication) HL 28-Oct-2004
Inherent High Court power may restrain Publicity
The claimant child’s mother was to be tried for the murder of his brother by poisoning with salt. It was feared that the publicity which would normally attend a trial, would be damaging to S, and an application was made for reporting restrictions to . .
Cited – Observer and Guardian v The United Kingdom ECHR 26-Nov-1991
The newspapers challenged orders preventing their publication of extracts of the ‘Spycatcher’ book.
Held: The dangers inherent in prior restraints are such that they call for the most careful scrutiny on the part of the court. This is . .
Cited – Cream Holdings Limited and others v Banerjee and others HL 14-Oct-2004
On her dismissal from the claimant company, Ms Banerjee took confidential papers revealing misconduct to the local newspaper, which published some. The claimant sought an injunction to prevent any further publication. The defendants argued that the . .
Cited – Kent County Council v The Mother, The Father, B (By Her Children’s Guardian); Re B (A Child) (Disclosure) FD 19-Mar-2004
The council had taken the applicant’s children into care alleging that the mother had harmed them. In the light of the subsequent cases casting doubt on such findings, the mother sought the return of her children. She applied now that the hearings . .
Cited – Peck v The United Kingdom ECHR 28-Jan-2003
peck_ukECHR2003
The claimant had been filmed by CCTV. He had, after attempting suicide, left home with a knife, been arrested by the police and disarmed, but then sent home without charge. The CCTV film was used on several occasions to advertise the effectiveness . .
Cited – Prager And Oberschlick v Austria ECHR 26-Apr-1995
Article 10 requires that journalists be permitted a good deal of latitude in how they present their material and that a degree of exaggeration must also be accepted. The media have a special place in any democratic society as purveyor of information . .
Cited – Botta v Italy ECHR 24-Feb-1998
The claimant, who was disabled, said that his Article 8 rights were infringed because, in breach of Italian law, there were no facilities to enable him to get to the sea when he went on holiday.
Held: ‘Private life . . includes a person’s . .
Cited – Bensaid v The United Kingdom ECHR 6-Feb-2001
The applicant was a schizophrenic and an illegal immigrant. He claimed that his removal to Algeria would deprive him of essential medical treatment and sever ties that he had developed in the UK that were important for his well-being. He claimed . .
Cited – X v Dempster FD 9-Nov-1998
The columnist Nigel Dempster had written that the mother in forthcoming proceedings relating to a child was a bad mother.
Held: The article was a contempt of court. Such an allegation required proof to the criminal standard. At common law the . .
Cited – Re X (Disclosure of Information) FD 2001
There cannot be an expectation that expert evidence given in a children’s court will always stay confidential. The various aspects of confidentiality will have greater or lesser weight on the facts of each case. Munby J: ‘Wrapped up in this concept . .
Cited – British Broadcasting Corporation v Kelly FD 9-Aug-2000
The interview for television of a child ward of court who had gone to live with members of a religious sect was not necessarily a contempt of court. There are three groups of ways in which a ward’s interests can be protected. First where the . .
Cited – In re W (Children) (Care Proceedings: Witness anonymity) CA 7-Oct-2002
In care proceedings, the court had allowed a social worker to give evidence in such a way that her identity was hidden. She was in fear of violence.
Held: It was possible for a civil court to provide anonymity. These public law proceedings . .
Cited – H v France ECHR 24-Oct-1989
Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Violation of Art. 6-1; Pecuniary damage – claim rejected; Non-pecuniary damage – financial award; Costs and expenses award – domestic proceedings; Costs and expenses . .

Cited by:
Cited – Norfolk County Council v Webster and others FD 1-Nov-2006
The claimants wished to claim that they were victims of a miscarriage of justice in the way the Council had dealt with care proceedings. They sought that the proceedings should be reported without the children being identified.
Held: A judge . .
Cited – Doctor A and Others v Ward and Another FD 8-Jan-2010
Parents wished to publicise the way care proceedings had been handled, naming the doctors, social workers and experts some of whom had been criticised. Their names had been shown as initials so far, and interim contra mundum orders had been made . .
Cited – In re A (A Minor) FD 8-Jul-2011
An application was made in care proceedings for an order restricting publication of information about the family after the deaths of two siblings of the child subject to the application. The Sun and a local newspaper had already published stories . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children, Media

Updated: 10 January 2022; Ref: scu.236621

A, Regina (on the Application of) v Home Secretary: Admn 27 Nov 2003

Application by detainees for judicial review of the decision of the Secretary of State to permit them to be interviewed by journalists but only if the interviews are conducted within earshot of officials and are tape recorded. The claimants challenge the monitoring conditions which the Secretary of State has imposed, contending that they contravene Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Kennedy LJ, Royce J
[2003] EWHC 2846 (Admin)
Bailii
England and Wales

Media, Prisons, Immigration

Updated: 10 January 2022; Ref: scu.188501

Middleton and Another v Person or Persons Unknown: QBD 28 Sep 2016

Continued Injunction against hacked materials

Application for continuation of an injunction to prevent the disclosure of private materials said to have been obtained by hacking the first claimant’s icloud account.

Whipple J
[2016] EWHC 2354 (QB)
Bailii
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Cameron v Liverpool Victoria Insurance Co Ltd SC 20-Feb-2019
The Court was asked in what circumstances is it permissible to sue an unnamed defendant? The respondent was injured when her car collided with another. The care was insured but by a driver giving a false name. The car owner refused to identify him. . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Media, Torts – Other

Updated: 10 January 2022; Ref: scu.569656

Bloomsbury Publishing Group Ltd and J K Rowling v News Group Newspapers Ltd and others: ChD 23 May 2003

The publishers had gone to great lengths to keep advance copies of a forthcoming book in the Harry Potter series secret. They became aware that some had been stolen from the printers and sought injunctions against the defendants and another unnamed and unknown person.
Held: The court was able to make the order sought against persons unknown. There were valid distinctions between different classifications of such persons, but the requirement was that the description used must be sufficiently certain as to identify both those who are included and those who are not. If that test is satisfied then it does not matter that the description may apply to no one or to more than one person nor that there is no further element of subsequent identification whether by service or otherwise.
Following the introduction of the CPR, there was no requirement that a defendant must be named in proceedings against him/her/it, but merely a direction that the defendant should be named (if possible): ‘The crucial point, as it seems to me, is that the description used must be sufficiently certain as to identify both those who are included and those who are not. If that test is satisfied then it does not seem to me to matter that the description may apply to no one or to more than one person nor that there is no further element of subsequent identification whether by service or otherwise.’

The Vice-Chancellor, Sir Andrew Morritt
[2003] EWHC 1205 (Ch), Gazette 17-Jul-2003, Times 05-Jun-2003, [2003] 1 WLR 1633
Bailii
England and Wales
Citing:
Distiunguished – Friern Barnet UDC v Adams CA 1927
The plaintiff sought the cost of certain streetworks from the relevant frontagers. They did not know their names and issued a writ against ‘the owners of’ certain land clearly identified by name. It was pointed out that only owners of that land at . .
Cited – In Re Wykeham Terrace ChD 1971
Squatters had broken into and were in occupation of vacant premises. The plaintiff owner did not know their names. He applied for an order for possession by means of an ex parte originating summons to which there was no defendant. Service was . .
Cited – McPhail v Persons, Names Unknown CA 1973
The court was asked to make an order against persons unknown in order to recover land. Although an owner of land which was being occupied by squatters was entitled to take the remedy into his own hand, he was encouraged to go to a common law court . .
Cited – EMI Recurds v Kudhail CA 1985
An order was sought against the defendasnt and unnamed defendants involved in copyright piracy.
Held: The court was prepared to make an order against the named defendant on his own behalf and as representing all other persons engaged in the . .
Cited – Barnett v French CA 1981
The court considered how defendants should be named in court proceedings where their identity was unknown. . .
Cited – Biguzzi v Rank Leisure Plc CA 26-Jul-1999
The court’s powers under the new CPR to deal with non-compliance with time limits, were wide enough to allow the court to allow re-instatement of an action previously struck out. The court could find alternative ways of dealing with any delay which . .
Cited – Stewart v Engel, BDO Stoy Hayward CA 17-May-2000
A judge may reopen a case even after he has delivered his final judgment. A judge invited counsel to amend his pleading to incorporate an improvement, but in the face of his repeated failure to take up the invitation, entered final judgment against . .
Cited – Attorney-General v Times Newspapers Ltd HL 1991
Injunctions had been granted to preserve the status quo in proceedings brought to prevent the publication of the book ‘Spycatcher’. The defendants published extracts, and now appealed a finding that they had acted in contempt.
Held: The . .
Cited – Acrow (Automation) Ltd v Rex Chainbelt Inc 1971
A person not party to proceedings, but who knows of an order made in them, and assists in its breach or nullifies the purpose of a trial may be liable for contempt. . .

Cited by:
Cited – South Cambridgeshire District Council v Persons Unknown CA 17-Sep-2004
The council appealed refusal of an order against persons unknown with regard to preventing breaches of planning control at a specific site.
Held: An injunction could properly be granted against persons unknown ‘causing or permitting hardcore . .
Cited – X and Y v Persons Unknown QBD 8-Nov-2006
The claimants sought an injunction against unknown persons who were said to have divulged confidential matters to newspapers. The order had been served on newspapers who now complained that the order was too uncertain to allow them to know how to . .
Cited – X and Y v Persons Unknown QBD 8-Nov-2006
The claimants sought an injunction against unknown persons who were said to have divulged confidential matters to newspapers. The order had been served on newspapers who now complained that the order was too uncertain to allow them to know how to . .
Cited – Secretary of State for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs v Meier and Others SC 1-Dec-2009
The claimant sought a possession order to recover land from trespassers. The court considered whether a possession order was available where not all the land was occupied, and it was feared that the occupiers might simply move onto a different part. . .
Cited – Brett Wilson Llp v Person(s) Unknown, Responsible for The Operation and Publication of The Website www.solicitorsfromhelluk.com QBD 16-Sep-2015
The claimant solicitors sought remedies against the unknown publishers of the respondent website which was said to publish material defamatory of them, and to ampunt to harassment.
Held: The alleged defamatory meanings were not challenged by . .
Cited – Vastint Leeds Bv v Persons Unknown ChD 24-Sep-2018
The claimant company sought a final injunction to prevent others occupying its land in Leeds. It was a quia timet injunction anticipating future acts of occupation by caravans, fly-tipping and use of the land for illegal raves.
Held: The . .
Cited – Cameron v Liverpool Victoria Insurance Co Ltd SC 20-Feb-2019
The Court was asked in what circumstances is it permissible to sue an unnamed defendant? The respondent was injured when her car collided with another. The care was insured but by a driver giving a false name. The car owner refused to identify him. . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Litigation Practice, Media

Updated: 10 January 2022; Ref: scu.183358

Italian International Film v EACEA: ECFI 4 Feb 2016

ECJ Judgment – Support programme for the European audiovisual sector (MEDIA 2007) – Measures of support for the transnational distribution of European films – Call for proposals in connection with the ‘selective’ scheme 2013 – EACEA act informing the applicant of the rejection of its application for the film ‘Only God Forgives’ – EACEA act confirming the rejection but stating new reasons – Powers – Distribution of tasks between the Commission and the EACEA – Circumscribed powers – Actions for annulment – Challengeable act – Admissibility – Obligation to state reasons – Permanent Guidelines 2012-2013 – Material or physical distribution agreement – Not communicated in advance to the EACEA – Application not eligible

T-676/13, [2016] EUECJ T-676/13, ECLI:EU:T:2016:62
Bailii

European, Media

Updated: 10 January 2022; Ref: scu.559537

Miranda, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for The Home Department and Others: CA 19 Jan 2016

The claimant had been stopped at Heathrow by the defendant’s officers, and an encrypted data device had been taken from him using powers derived from the 2000 Act. The device was thought to contain material taken from the US NSA security service. He said that the use of such powers was excessive.

Lord Dyson MR, Richards, Floyd LJJ
[2016] EWCA Civ 6
Bailii
Terrorism Act 2000
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Regina v Southwark Crown Court, Ex Parte Bowles (On Appeal From A Divisional Court of the Queen’s Bench Division) HL 7-Apr-1998
An application had been made for a production order under section 93H of the 1988 Act which was concerned with the recovery of the proceeds of criminal conduct. The issue was whether an order obtained for the purpose of assisting in the recovery of . .
Cited – Miranda v Secretary of State for The Home Department and Others Admn 19-Feb-2014
The claimant alleged that his detention by the police and the removal from him of encrypted computer storage devices purporting to use powers under the 2000 Act. He and his journalist partner had received and published materials said to be of . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Media, Human Rights

Updated: 09 January 2022; Ref: scu.558932

V v Associated Newspapers Ltd and Others: CoP 9 Dec 2015

The court heard applications reating to anonymity orders made in the Court when a hearing was to be in public and the continuation of an injunction.

Charles J
[2015] EWCOP 88
Bailii
England and Wales
Cited by:
See Also – Re V, (Out of Hours: Reporting Restriction Order) CoP 2-Dec-2015
Reasons for granting a time limited extension for a reporting restrictions order (RRO) in this case. . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Media, Human Rights

Updated: 09 January 2022; Ref: scu.558198

University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust v AS and Others (Serious Medical Treatment): FD 27 Oct 2021

i. What treatment is in AS’s best interests (and specifically as to whether the Trust’s proposed care plan (with ceilings of treatment) is in her best interests?
ii. Whether a reporting restrictions order in the terms sought by the applicant should be granted, to prevent the identification of her treating clinicians?

The Honourable Mr Justice Hayden,
Vice President of the Court of Protection
[2021] EWHC 2927 (Fam)
Bailii
England and Wales

Children, Health, Media

Updated: 09 January 2022; Ref: scu.669918