APRIL 2011

MP LAUNCHES PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY INTO INJUNCTIONS

NEW TYPE OF INJUNCTION FOUND AGAINST INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

John Hemming MP, who is campaigning against excessive and unlawful court secrecy, has
launched an inquiry in parliament into the growing numbers of gagging orders.

"I will be collecting a range of different gagging orders," he said, "and then analysing and
sorting them into different categories. I will then produce a number of parliamentary
petitions summarising the details and pass them to the Justice Select Committee for further
investigation."

"What is clear," he said, "is that almost all of the super and hyper injunctions have no public
judgment. That means that they are not compliant with the rules for a fair trial. There is also
the question as to whether there should be an automatic time limit on an interim order.
Many cases have an interim order and no final hearing. This is clearly wrong. We also need
to know what the costs are both for the applicant and for the media in defending these
orders. It is wrong to have a system whereby people can buy the sort of justice they want.
That is a contravention of Clause 29 of Magna Carta 1297i (which is still in force)."

"A good example of an injunction that is handled properly is that relating to ZAM and
CFW/TFWii. This is accompanied by a published judgment. However, what is not in the
published judgment is the amount of costs awarded although the fact of the awarding of
costs is in the judgment. The judgment should reveal the amount of costs as well."

New type of injunction - the Quaero Injunction

Mr Hemming has also revealed a new type of injunction against investigative journalism. "I
have recently seen a gagging order that prevents people seeking information about a case
from the parties. This goes a step further than preventing people speaking out against
injustice. It also puts any investigative journalist at risk if they ask any questions of a victim
of a potential miscarriage of justice.

"I call this the Quaero Injunction, after the Latin work "to seek". I don't think this should be
allowed in English courts. It has the effect of preventing journalists from speaking to people
subject to this injunction without a risk of the journalist going to jail. That is a recipe for
hiding miscarriages of justice."

"Anyone who has a gagging injunction that they would like to go into this proceeding in
parliament should post it to me at John Hemming MP, House of Commons, London SW1
0AA. I am happy to receive copies of injunctions by email”iii.
i Magna Carta, Clause 29 and Article 6 ECHR
ii Judgment
iii The injunctions are for both a petition (a proceeding in parliament) and a select
committee to receive and will give parliamentary privilege to the process of sending John
Hemming the injunctions.

Notes for Editors

For further information please contact:

John Hemming MP

hemmingj@parliament.uk