Cases

Attorney General v Random House Group Ltd

Held

Granting the injunction:

In s.2(2) of the Act “substantial” describes the degree of risk. “Seriously” describes the degree of impediment or prejudice to the course of justice. In combination the two words were not intended to exclude a risk that is only remote. Section 12 of the Human Rights Act 1998 applied, although the application of s.12(3) was doubted. There was a risk of some prejudice if jurors read the book, however there was not a risk of serious prejudice because there was no substantial risk that (i) a juror would read the book if put on sale; and (ii) a juror would plainly display disobedience to the direction of the Trial Judge. There was a substantial risk that if the book remained on sale the course of justice would be seriously impeded, for example, by applications to discharge the jury. Considering s.5 of the Act: while the passages in the book were part of a discussion of public affairs, the risk of impediment to the trial was not incidental.

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