Avneet Baryan reports on the inviolability of embargoed judgments: what does this mean for practitioners?
- In R (on the application of Counsel General for Wales) v Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Court of Appeal made it clear that it took breaches of the embargo on draft judgments very seriously, and that proceedings for contempt of court would be brought against those who breached it.
- For practitioners, the judgment is a cautionary tale of the importance of respecting the rules of the embargo.
We are all aware of the rules in CPR PD 40E that embargoed judgments received in advance of hand-down must respect the embargo, and anyone who is in breach can expect to find themselves the subject of contempt proceedings. The all-too-familiar wording received from judge’s clerks when embargoed judgments are delivered is clear and provides that (emphasis added):
- the draft is confidential to the parties and to their legal representatives;
- neither the draft nor its substance may be disclosed to any other person or made public in any way;
- no
