STATUTES
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1962.tb02202.x |
| Published date | 01 March 1962 |
| Date | 01 March 1962 |
STATUTES
PUBLIC
BODIES (ADMISSION
TO
MEETINGS)
ACT,
1960
THE Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act,
1960,
was intro-
duced as
a
private member's Bill by
Mrs.
Margaret Thatcher, the
member
for
Finchley and the present Parliamentary Under-
Secretury to the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance.
It
received the Royal Assent on October
27,
1960,
and came into
force on June
1,
1961.'
It
makes important changes in the law
relating to the publicity of local authority
*
proceedings, but is
of
even greater interest for what it might have become. Although
the Bill which Mrs. Thatcher introduced received considerable
government support both in preparation
a
and in debate, it never-
theless lost most
of
its more controversial sections during its pro-
gress through Parliument, and emerged as a very different instru-
ment from that originaliy put forward. The first part of this note
describes the historical background of the Bill; the second part is
concerned with the legal effect of the Act, and the third part
discusses some
of
the questions (largely relating to the committee
system in local government) raised by those clauses of the Bill
which did not become
law.
I
It
has long been believed in this country that full publicity
of
proceedings is one factor that promotes the proper conduct of
govcrnment. Thus it would now be unthinkable to deny to the
Press and public permission to attend debates in Parliament; and,
except in special circumstances, none of the regular courts
of
law
operates in private.
By no means the same policy, however, has been regularly
followed in matters of local government. In
1908
the Court
of
Appeal held in
Tenby
Corporation
v.
Mason
that neither the Press
nor the public had an enforceable common law right to be present
at council meetings of local authorities.' The defendant
in
that
case was a newspaper proprietor, and as far as newspapers were
concerned Parliament immediately attempted to reverse the effect
of the decision. The Local Authorities (Admission of the Press to
Meetings) Act,
1908,
conferred upon representatives of the Press
a
right to be admitted to the meetings of all local authorities unless
2
The Act applies to many other bodies,
for
exam le the Metropolitan Water
Board and executive councils under the National 8ealth Service (wee the First
Schedule to the Act), but
this
note
is
confined to
its
effect
upon
local
authorities.
3
It
is believed that
Mra.
Thatcher was granted the assistance of the parlis-
mentary draftsman
in
framing the
Bill.
4
[lWSJ
1
Ch.
467.
204
1
8.
9
(4).
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