Guardian News and Media Ltd, Regina (on The Application of) v City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court and Another: CA 25 Oct 2011

The claimant newspaper sought to appeal against a refusal by the respondent to disclose papers filed in a case before it. The court considered whether it had jurisdiction to hear an appeal.
Held: Under the 1981 Act no appeal would lie if the matter was a criminal one. The application was made after what was clearly a criminal matter, but the claimant argued that the application itself was a civil one. The authorities were confusing and the law unclear. The court found that the application though made in criminal proceedings, itself was wholly collateral to those extradition proceedings. The Court of Appeal did therefore have jurisdiction: ‘any sort of final coherence in relation to the scope and effect of section 18(1)(a) can only be provided by the Supreme Court, but I believe that, consistently with the spirit of the approach in The Great Peace [2003] QB 679, the best way of applying the ‘rather tangled’ jurisprudence developed over the past thirty-five years, and ensuring maximum coherence (or maybe it is more realistic to say, minimum incoherence) is to hold that we have jurisdiction to hear the appeal.’ In view of the arguments raised, leave was granted.
Lord Neuberger MR, Jackson, Aikens LJJ
[2011] EWCA Civ 1188, [2012] EMLR 11, [2012] CP Rep 5, [2011] 1 WLR 3253
Bailii
Supreme Court Act 1981 18(1)
England and Wales
Citing:
CitedAmand v Home Secretary and Minister of Defence of Royal Netherlands Government HL 1943
The refusal of an application for habeas corpus by a person committed to prison with a view to extradition was a decision in a ‘criminal cause or matter.’
Viscount Simon LC said said that the: ‘distinction between cases of habeas corpus in a . .
Appeal fromGuardian News and Media Ltd, Regina (on The Application of) v City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court Admn 21-Dec-2010
The claimant appealed against a refusal by the magistrate to allow access to documents filed during proceedings when the court felt that all relevant matters had been discussed openly and in detail in court.
Held: The appeal failed, and the . .
CitedUnited States of America, Regina (on the Application of) v Bow Street Magistrates’ Court Admn 6-Sep-2006
The defendant a serving prisoner sought an adjournment of his extradition to a time closer to the end of the sentence he was to serve in England.
Held: The court had sympathy with the argument that where the district judge is being invited to . .
DoubtedRegina v Southampton Justices ex parte Green CA 1976
The court considered whether as the Court of Appeal, it had jurisdiction to hear an appeal against the Divisional Court’s refusal to quash an order estreating a recognisance.
Held: It did. Lord Denning MR said that ‘the matter is criminal’ if . .
CitedCarr v Atkins CA 1987
The police had applied to a judge for an order under the 1984 Act requiring the applicant, a suspect in a fraud investigation, to produce documents falling within the definition of ‘special procedure documents’ under the Act. The applicants sought . .
CitedIn re Smalley HL 1985
Challenge by a surety to an estreatment of his recognizance was not a matter relating to a trial on indictment for the purpose of section 29(3) because it did not affect the conduct of the trial. A sensible legislative purpose can be seen for . .
CitedRegina v Sheffield Crown Court ex parte Brownlow CA 1980
Two police officers were being brought to trial, charged with assault occasioning bodily harm. They applied to the trial judge for an order directing the prosecution to inform the defence whether any members of the jury panel had criminal . .
CitedRegina v Lambeth Metropolitan Stipendiary Magistrate ex parte McComb CA 1983
The Court found that it had jurisdiction to entertain an appeal against the Divisional Court’s upholding of a decision that the Director of Public Prosecutions could freely remove exhibits, lodged in the Crown Court in criminal proceedings against . .
CitedRegina v Waterfield QBD 1975
The defendant was convicted of importing pornographic films and magazines. One ground of appeal was that the proceedings were a nullity because the press and public had been excluded from the court room during the showing of the films.
Held: . .
CitedA v Independent News and Media Ltd and Others CA 31-Mar-2010
a_independentCA2010
The newspapers sought leave to report proceedings before the Court of Protection in connection with a patient unable to manage his own affairs. The patient retained a possible capacity to work as a professional musician. The family wanted the . .
CitedDay v Grant (Note) CA 1985
(January 1985) The court must look to the underlying nature of the proceedings in which the order was made and against which an appeal was sought to see to which court an appeal lay. ‘So Lord Wright was saying that you look not at the particular . .
CitedHowell and Others, Regina v CACD 28-Feb-2003
The defendants appealed against convictions for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. They had been police officers.
An application was made for the disclosure of the skeleton arguments read by the court, Judge LJ said: ‘Subject to . .
CitedGreat Peace Shipping Ltd v Tsavliris (International) Ltd CA 14-Oct-2002
The parties contracted for the hire of a ship. They were each under a mistaken impression as to its position, and a penalty became payable. The hirer claimed that the equitable doctrine of mutual mistake should forgive him liability.
Held: . .
CitedUnited States Government v Montgomery and Another HL 6-Feb-2001
An English court had power to make a restraining order against the disposal of assets pending an application for confiscation pursuant to a US order. This applied even if the US original judgment predated the date on which the US was added to the . .

Cited by:
CitedOsborn 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 . .

These lists may be incomplete.
Updated: 17 March 2021; Ref: scu.447494