His Majesty's Attorney General for England and Wales v Benjamin Gray
| Court | King's Bench Division (Administrative Court) |
| Judge | Lord Justice William,Mrs Justice Hill |
| Neutral Citation | [2024] EWHC 718 (Admin) |
| Date | 26 March 2024 |
| Year | 2024 |
| Counsel | Bayo Randle |
Lord Justice William Davis and Mrs Justice Hill
Approved Judgment
HM Attorney General v Gray
AMENDED UNDER SLIP RULE PURSUANT TO CPR 40.12
Case No: KB-2023-001123
Neutral Citation Number: [2024] EWHC 718 (Admin)
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
KING’S BENCH DIVISION
DIVISIONAL COURT
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL
Date: 26/03/2024
Before :
LORD JUSTICE WILLIAM DAVIS
MRS JUSTICE HILL DBE
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Between :
HIS MAJESTY’S ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR
ENGLAND AND WALES
Applicant
- and -
BENJAMIN GRAY
Respondent
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Bayo Randle (instructed by Government Legal Department) for the Applicant
The Respondent appeared as a Litigant in Person
Hearing date: 13 March 2024
Further written submissions: 15, 18 and 19 March 2024
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Approved Judgment
This judgment was handed down remotely at 2pm on 26 March 2024 by circulation to the
parties or their representatives by e-mail and by release to the National Archives.
Lord Justice William Davis and Mrs Justice Hill
Approved Judgment
HM Attorney General v Gray
.............................
MRS JUSTICE HILL
Lord Justice William Davis and Mrs Justice Hill DBE:
Introduction
1. In these proceedings His Majesty’s Attorney General for England and Wales applies
for an all proceedings order against the Respondent, Benjamin Gray, under the Senior
Courts Act 1981 (“the SCA”), s.42. This is the judgment of the Court to which we
have both contributed.
The legal framework
The SCA, s.42
2. The power to make orders restraining vexatious legal proceedings derives from
s.42(1), which reads as follows:
“42. Restriction of vexatious legal proceedings.
(1) If, on an application made by the Attorney General under this
section, the High Court is satisfied that any person has habitually and
persistently and without any reasonable ground—
(a) instituted vexatious civil proceedings, whether in the High Court or
the family court or any inferior court, and whether against the same
person or against different persons; or
(b) made vexatious applications in any civil proceedings, whether in
the High Court or the family court or any inferior court, and whether
instituted by him or another: or
(c) instituted vexatious prosecutions (whether against the same person
or different persons),
the court may, after hearing that person or giving him an opportunity of
being heard, make a civil proceedings order, a criminal proceedings
order or an all proceedings order”.
3. Accordingly, the court must determine (i) whether one of the pre-conditions set out in
subsection (1) are met; and if so (ii) whether to exercise the discretion to make one of
the three types of orders referred to.
4. The three types of order are defined thus:
“(1A) In this section—
“civil proceedings order” means an order that—
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