Divisional Court Cases
| Date | 01 July 1957 |
| Published date | 01 July 1957 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002201835702100304 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Divisional Court Cases
CONTEMPT
OF COURT BY
INNOCENT
DISSEMINATION OF
PREJUDICIAL
INFORMATION
R.
v. Griffiths and Others: ex parte Attorney-General
THE above case (1957 2W.L.R. 1064) is of great importance
to all distributors of foreign newspapers
and
periodicals as
it shows
that
if any such publication contains matter likely to
prejudice
the
trial of any case (civil or criminal) in this country
any distributor of such publication although totally ignorant
of its contents
and
having no reasonable ground for suspecting
that
they contain prejudicial matter is nevertheless guilty of
contempt of Court.
The
matter came before a Divisional
Court
consisting of
Lord
Goddard
C.J., Hilbery
and
Donovan
JJ.
on the
znd
May
1957, on motions for writs of attachment by the Attorney-
General in respect of the issue dated the
rst
April, 1957, of a
magazine called Newsweek.
The
matter complained of was in
two paragraphs of the magazine entitled
"The
doctor on trial"
and
"Bequests"
and
made what the Court considered were
highly prejudicial allegations relative to
Dr.
Bodkin Adams who
was
then
being tried for
murder
at the Central Criminal Court.
The
parties against whom the writs of attachment were sought
were one Griffiths,
the
chief European correspondent of
the
magazine,
the
Rolls House Publishing Co.
Ltd.
and
their
circulation director (hereafter referred to as
"the
second
and
third
respondents")
and
the well-known newsagents
and
booksellers W. H. Smith &Son
Ltd.
(hereafter referred to as
"the
fourth respondents").
The
evidence relating to the magazine was
that
it was
owned by a company registered in Dayton, Ohio and was
compiled in N ew York. A special European edition was
published
but
although there was a London office the magazine
had no editor or manager in this country.
The
respondent
Griffiths was the senior official of the company in this country
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