Cases

Mohamed, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs (No 2)

Held

(1) A judge was not bound by the terms of a draft judgment circulated in confidence.  The circulation of draft judgments is not intended to provide an opportunity to any party to reopen or reargue the case, or to repeat submissions or deploy fresh ones. However, in exceptional cases, a court may properly be invited to reconsider parts of its draft beyond mere correction of typographical errors, so long as all parties are immediately informed. 

(2) Draft judgments were necessarily circulated in confidence and all communications in response were covered by the same principle. However, the instant case was a case of high exceptionality and confidentiality should be waived.  It was better that the Master of the Roll's original draft judgment be disclosed and made available for comment. This would remove any misconception that the original wording had been changed due to improper ministerial interference. Disclosure was also in accordance with the principle of open justice.

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