8/7/2019 Quaero Injunctions (PR)
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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, haslaunched 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 andsorting them into different
categories. I will then produce a number of parliamentarypetitions
summarising the details and pass them to the Justice Select
Committee for furtherinvestigation."
"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 alsothe
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 needto know what the costs
are both for the applicant and for the media in defending
theseorders. 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 andCFW/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. "Ihave recently seen a gagging order that
prevents people seeking information about a casefrom the parties.
This goes a step further than preventing people speaking out
againstinjustice. It also puts any investigative journalist at risk
if they ask any questions of a victimof a potential miscarriage of
justice.
"I call this the Quaero Injunction, after the Latin work "to
seek". I don't think this should beallowed in English courts. It
has the effect of preventing journalists from speaking to
peoplesubject to this injunction without a risk of the journalist
going to jail. That is a recipe forhiding miscarriages of
justice."
"Anyone who has a gagging injunction that they would like to go
into this proceeding inparliament should post it to me at John
Hemming MP, House of Commons, London SW10AA. I am happy to receive
copies of injunctions by email iii.
![[Chap 14] Injunctions in English Law](https://img.pdfslide.us/doc/110x75/577c80491a28abe054a808b8/chap-14-injunctions-in-english-law.jpg)
