Freedom of the Press and Prior Restraint

Extract

The constitutional implications of the decision of the Court of Appeal in Cream Holdings Ltd. v. Banerjee [2003] EWCA Civ 103, [2004] Ch. 650 (noted [2004] C.L.J. 4) to grant an injunction restraining a newspaper from publishing allegations of corruption in local government on the grounds of breach of confidence were such that it was not surprising that leave to appeal to the House of Lords was readily granted and that the matter has been speedily resolved: [2004] UKHL 44, [2004] 3 W.L.R. 918.

A disgruntled former employee of Cream Holdings had approached a local newspaper alleging that her former employers were engaged in the corruption of a local authority official by offering money to secure entertainment licences. The employers sought an injunction restraining both the employee and the newspaper from publication on the grounds of breach of confidence (but no defamation was alleged by those running the company).