As part of the proof of the alleged falsity of Mr Coulson’s evidence, the prosecution wanted to refer to evidence given by him to a Select Committee of the House of Commons.
Held: ‘Article 9 of the Bill of Rights provides that proceedings in Parliament ought not to be ‘impeached or questioned’. It is true that these are words with a primarily negative connotation, certainly in modern English but also, as it would appear from the Oxford Dictionary, seventeenth century English. That does not mean that it is only criticism of Parliamentary proceedings that is prohibited by the doctrine of privilege; it also applies when they are in any way put in issue. As we have already indicated, in Prebble the Privy Council adopted the terms of section 16(3) of the (Australian) Parliamentary Privileges Act 1987 as an accurate statement of the principle . . .They prohibit the leading of evidence questioning anything forming part of proceedings in Parliament but they also prohibit the leading of evidence for the purpose of relying on the truth etc of anything forming part of proceedings in Parliament; otherwise establishing the credibility etc of any person; or inviting the drawing of inferences or conclusions wholly or partly from anything forming part of these proceedings. Parliamentary proceedings are simply off-limits when it comes to litigation. They cannot be relied on either to make or to rebut a case and it does not matter whether, for the purposes of litigation, their integrity is being disputed or is being endorsed.’
Lord Burns
[2015] ScotHC HCJAC – 49, 2015 GWD 20-336, 2015 SLT 438, 2015 SCCR 219, 2015 SCL 588
Bailii
Scotland
Cited by:
Cited – Kimathi and Others v Foreign and Commonwealth Office QBD 20-Dec-2017
Parliamentary privilege The claimants sought to have admitted as evidence extracts from Hansard in support of their claim for damages arising from historic claims.
Held: The court set out the authorities and made orders as to each element. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Criminal Practice
Updated: 03 January 2022; Ref: scu.550968