Guidelines for super injunctions to be introduced

October 26th, 2009

Junior Justice Minister Bridget Prentice revealed on 21 October that Justice Secretary Jack Straw has called on senior judges and lawyers representing major newspapers to discuss the fit and proper use of super injunctions. It follows the issuing of a super injunction by the courts that inadvertently prevented the Guardian newspaper from reporting parliamentary proceedings. Although the Lord Chief Justice, Judge Judge, pointed out that some super injunctions were justified, Prentice nonetheless admitted to being “very concerned that super injunctions are being used more commonly”. Having appeased MPs by assurring them that their absolute right to address parliament was protected by law, Prentice said that further guidelines on the issuing of super injunctions might be useful to the judiciary.

UK: climbdown on secret inquests

May 15th, 2009

Justice secretary Jack Straw has announced the government will not go ahead with plans for non-jury private inquests to cover cases involving “sensitive information”. Read more here

Iraq minutes release vetoed

February 24th, 2009

Justice Secretary Jack Straw has vetoed the release of minutes of cabinet meetings in the lead-up to the Iraq war. The Information Commissioner had previously ruled that the records should be released. Read more here