''Attorney General v Observer Ltd''

990 Year 990 ( CMXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Al-Mansur, ''de facto'' ruler of Al-Andalus, conquers the Castle of Montemor-o-Velho (mode ...

is an English tort law case on

breach of confidentiality The tort of breach of confidence is, in United States law, a common law tort that protects private information that is conveyed in confidence. A claim for breach of confidence typically requires the information to be of a confidential nature, whi ...

. It also raised questions of the interests of public policy and freedom of expression under the European Convention on Human Rights because it involved a spy's publication of secret information.

Facts

Peter Wright worked for MI5. After retiring he wrote a book called ''

Spycatcher ''Spycatcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer'' (1987) is a memoir written by Peter Wright, former MI5 officer and Assistant Director, and co-author Paul Greengrass. He drew on his own experiences and research into ...

'', describing his work. This was in breach of the Official Secrets Act 1911. It was published in Australia and the US. '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian'' published articles on proceedings in the Australian courts by the UK government to stop the publication. The

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

then sought and received an

interlocutory injunction An interlocutory injunction is a court order to compel or prevent a party from doing certain acts pending the final determination of the case. It is an order made at an interim stage during the trial, and is usually issued to maintain the status q ...

restraining publication of information obtained by Wright in June 1986. In July 1987 the ''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'' published extracts from the book two days before its publication in the US. The Attorney General sought and was given injunctions to restrain further publication. But Scott J discharged them, holding the paper was liable to account for profits resulting from the publication. The Court of Appeal dismissed the Attorney General's appeal, and he appealed again to the House of Lords.

Judgment

Lord Keith of Kinkel, Lord Brightman, Lord Griffiths, Lord Goff of Chieveley and Lord Jauncey of Tullichettle upheld the Attorney General's appeal, finding that the ''Sunday Times'' publication was in breach of its duty of confidence. That could arise both in contract and equity. A duty of confidence precludes disclosure to others, and a third party (like a newspaper) with confidential information is similarly bound by a duty if they know it is confidential. This was true unless the confidential information was already known to the general public, or the duty to keep the information secret was outweighed by a countervailing public interest in the information. The Attorney General had to show that disclosure was contrary to the public interest. Because ''

'' was already published worldwide, the injunctions were not necessary. The articles in the ''Observer'' and ''Guardian'' contained no damaging information, meaning no breach of confidentiality. But the ''Sunday Times'' was in breach of its duty of confidence. It was not protected by a defence of prior publication, and the fact that the story was to be published imminently in the US made no difference. It was therefore liable for the profits it made. However no further injunctions were to be granted on this matter. In the course of the decision, Lord Goff stated the common law principle that " n Englandeverybody is free to do anything, subject only to the provisions of the law".p. 283G

References

External links

Full text of the judgment from Bailii
{{DEFAULTSORT:Attorney General V Observer Ltd House of Lords cases English tort case law 1988 in case law 1988 in British law The Guardian English privacy case law The Observer United Kingdom constitutional case law