The court discussed the discretion given under the section: ‘I remind myself, however, that under s 7(9) the claimant would have had to establish that the defendant had failed to comply with a request for disclosure in contravention of s 7(1), and, importantly, that, even in that event, the subsection confers upon the court a discretion as to whether to order the disclosure of such documents. I consider it of extreme significance that, even though s 7(1) speaks in terms of entitlement to disclosure on the part of the subject of data, the court is given a discretion, by the use of the word ‘may’ rather than any word such as ‘must’ or ‘shall’, as to whether to make the order.
It is also important to note that an analogous discretion is reflected in the terminology of s 14. As has been seen, s 14 is engaged only if the court is satisfied that personal data are inaccurate; and, even then, a discretion arises as to whether to order their rectification.’
Judges:
Wilson J
Citations:
[2002] 2 FLR 1118, [2002] EWHC 1724 (Fam)
Statutes:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Lord, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department Admn 1-Sep-2003
The claimant was a category A prisoner serving a sentence of life imprisonment for murder. He sought the reasons for his categorisation as a Class A prisoner. Unhappy at the disclosure made, he sought information under the 1998 Act. It was argued . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Information, Family
Updated: 20 April 2022; Ref: scu.186302