swarb.co.uk - law index
These cases are from the lawindexpro database. They are now being transferred to the swarb.co.uk website in a better form. As a case is published there, an entry here will link to it. The swarb.co.uk site includes many later cases.
Information - From: 1985 To: 1989
This page lists 10 cases, and was prepared on 08 August 2015.
Adams -v- Commission of the European Communities C-145/83; [1985] EUECJ C-145/83
7 Nov 1985
ECJ
European, Limitation, Information
Non-contractual liability - Protection of the confidentiality of information - Period of limitation.
[ Europa ] - [ Bailii ]
Peach -v- Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis [1986] QB 1064; [1986] 2 WLR 1080; [1986] 2 All ER 129
1986
CA
Fox LJ
Police, Information, Coroners
Statements made to the police about the death of Mr Blair Peach should be disclosed to his mother in her action against the police because, although they were made partly for the purpose of a complaint against the police and so would to that extent, in principle, attract public interest immunity from disclosure, they were made predominantly for the purpose of the investigation by the police of a violent death, to which no such immunity attached.
Fox LJ said: "As I understand the position it is the duty of the chief officer of police to convey to the coroner, for the purposes of a public inquest, all material in its possession touching the cause and circumstances of the death . . As a matter of sensible public administration it seems essential that the Coroner should have the material obtained by the police so that he, the Coroner, can decide what witnesses to call and to investigate the matter generally."
Purchas LJ said: "In my judgment, in the class of documents with which we are now faced there is an overwhelming bias in favour of the public interest being served by the disclosure of those documents and that, therefore, there is no justification for creating a new class of privileged documents which would be the effect of extending the class in respect of which Neilson v. Laugharne [1981] Q.B. 736 remains an authority to the class of documents with which the court is concerned in this appeal."
1 Cites
1 Citers
Huddleston -v- Control Risks; 1987 - [1987] 1 WLR 702
Leander -v- Sweden [1987] 9 EHRR 433; 9248/81; [1987] ECHR 4
26 Mar 1987
ECHR
Human Rights, Police, Information
Mr Leander had been refused employment at a museum located on a naval base, having been assessed as a security risk on the basis of information stored on a register maintained by State security services that had not been disclosed him. Mr Leander complained that he should have been provided with the information in question, and should have been given the chance to refute it. He submitted that Article 10 conferred a right of access to Government records and a positive obligation upon the State to disclose the contents of its file to him upon request. Held: His submission failed. Article 10 did not "in circumstances such as those of the present case, confer on an individual a right of access to a register containing information on his personal position". Proceedings before an Appeals Board and the possibility of interim injunction proceedings taken together provided the applicants with an effective remedy. Both the storage of private information in a secret police register and its release, coupled with a refusal to allow an opportunity to refute it, were an interference with the right to respect for private life.
"The Court observes that the right to freedom to receive information basically prohibits a Government from restricting a person from receiving information that others wish or may be willing to impart to him. Article 10 does not, in circumstances such as those of the present case, confer on the individual a right of access to a register containing information on his personal position, nor does it embody an obligation on the Government to impart such information to the individual.
There has thus been no interference with Mr. Leander's freedom to receive information, as protected by Article 10."
European Convention on Human Rights 13
1 Citers
[ Bailii ] - [ Bailii ]
X -v- Y [1988] 2 All ER 648
1988
Rose J
Information, Health Professions, Contempt of Court
Complaint was made that defendant newspapers were to publish confidential medical records of patients suffering Aids. An injunction was sought to prevent use of records given to a journalist by a hospital employee. The records related to doctors in general practice. The newspaper said it intended to do so in a way which would not allow identification of the doctors. Held: The injunction was granted. The fact of the confidence in the records meant that the claimant did not have to establish any further prospective damage. Detriment had been established immediately the records were handed over, since this would discourage other patients approaching AIDS clinics. One of the doctors had already been harassed by the newspaper. Once the information had been acquired in breach of contract, it was for the defendants to show good reason for its publication. They had not discharged that burden. Allowing the paper to pick and choose what it published would make a mockery of the section, and the story published during the continuation of the roceedings ahd clearly been in contempt of court. The court emphasised the importance of confidentiality for medical health records.
Contempt of Court Act 1981 10
1 Citers
Regina -v- Gold and Schifreen [1988] 2 WLR 984; [1988] AC 1063; [1988] 2 All ER 186
21 Apr 1988
HL
Lord Keith of Kinkel, Lord Brandon of Oakbrook, Lord Templeman, Lord Oliver of Aylmerton and Lord Goff of Chieveley
Crime, Information
The defendants had hacked a remote computer system, by the unauthorised use of the passwords and IDs of other users of the system. The ID and password were immediately cleared by the computer once authorisation for access had been granted. They had been charged under the 1981 Act of uttering a false instrument. The prosecutor now appealed against the decision of the Court of Appeal to quash the conviction. Held: The appeal failed. It was artificial to treat the creation of a temporary record held by the computer as the making of an instrument as defined in section 8(1). The information was held only temporarily and neither recorded nor stored within the Act.
Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981 1 8(1)(d)
1 Cites
[ lip ]
Attorney-General -v- Guardian Newspapers Ltd (No 2) ('Spycatcher'); HL 13-Oct-1988 - [1990] 1 AC 109; [1988] UKHL 6; [1987] 1 WLR 776; [1988] 3 All ER 545
W -v- Egdell [1989] 1 All ER 1089
1989
Scott J
Health Professions, Information
A psychiatrist instructed on behalf of a detainee in a secure hospital to carry out an examination of him was entitled in the exercise of a public duty to disclose to the authorities responsible for his future management the results of his assessment (which were indicative of the detainee presenting a continuing danger) and that any duty of confidence was subordinate to that. The public interest in the circumstances outweighed the doctor's duty of confidence to the plaintiff. The nature of a hearing before a Mental Health Review Tribunal is inquisitorial, not adversarial.
1 Citers
Gaskin -v- The United Kingdom 10454/83; [1990] 1 FLR 167; [1989] ECHR 13; (1989) 12 EHRR 36
7 Jul 1989
ECHR
R Ryssdal, P
Human Rights, Family, Information
The applicant complained of ill-treatment while he was in the care of a local authority and living with foster parents. He sought access to his case records held by the local authority but his request was denied. Held: The refusal to allow him access to his records involved a breach of his rights under Article 8, because there was no independent mechanism for determining whether or not access should be permitted where the consent of third party contributors could not be obtained. The Court emphasised the need for specific justification for preventing individuals from having access to information which forms part of their private and family life. Relationships between children and foster parents or carers fall within the definition of "family" within the meaning of Article 8.
However, the court rejected a submission that Article 10 provided the applicant with a right of access to social services care records concerning periods of his childhood spent in foster care, saying: "The Court holds, as it did in Leander v. Sweden, that 'the right to freedom to receive information basically prohibits a Government from restricting a person from receiving information that others wish or may be willing to impart to him.' Also in the circumstances of this case, Article 10 does not embody an obligation on the State concerned to impart the information in question to the individual.
There has thus been no interference with Mr Gaskin's right to receive information as protected by Article 10."
European Convention on Human Rights 8 10
1 Cites
1 Citers
[ Bailii ] - [ ECHR ] - [ Bailii ]
Regina -v- Hampshire County Council ex parte K and Another [1990] 1 FLR 330
1 Nov 1989
Watkins LJ and Waite J
Children, Information
Application was made for the disclosure of a local authorities social worker records, during the course of care proceedings after allegations of secual abuse had been made against the parents. Held: The court must look to the interests of the child: "as part and parcel of its general welfare, not only in having its own voice sympathetically heard and its own needs sensitively considered but also in ensuring that its parents are given every proper opportunity of having the evidence fairly tested and preparing themselves in advance to meet the grave charges against them." and "Local authorities therefore have a high duty in law, not only on grounds of general fairness but also in the direct interest of a child whose welfare they serve, to be open in the disclosure of all relevant material affecting that child in their possession or power (excluding documents protected on established grounds of public immunity) which may be of assistance to the natural parent or parents in rebutting charges against one or both of them of in any way ill-treating the child."
1 Citers
