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REF ID:A39900 

The Law Reports. The Public General Statutes. passed in the 52nd 

and 53rd years or the reign of Her Ma.Jesty Queen Victoria, 

1889 v. 26. Chapter 52. pp. 269-272 

An hot to prevent the Di&closure of Official Documents and 

Information. (26 August 1889) 

Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent lls.Jesty, by and with 

the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and the 

Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority 

of the same, as follows. 

1. - (1) (a.) v1here a person for the purpose of wrongf'u.lly obtaining information-

(i) enters or is in any part of a place belonging to Her 

llaJesty the Queen, being a fortress, arsenal, factory, 

dockyard, camp, sh.ip, office. or other like place, in 

which part he is not entitled to be, or 

(ii) When lawfully or unlawfully in any such place as aforesaid, either obtains any document, sketch, plan. model, 

or knowledge of any thing which he is not entitled to 

obtain, or takes vri th out le..wi'ul e.uthori ty any sketch or 

plan, or 

(iii) When outside any fortress,, arsenal,, .factory,, dockyard, 

or camp belongin~ to Her Y~jesty the Queen,, t~kes or 

attempts to take without authority given by or on behalf 

of Her Ma.Jesty, any sketch or plan of that fortress. 

arsenal, factory. dock.yard, or ca~pa or 

(b.' Where a person knowirigly having possesion of, or control 

over, any such document. sketch, plan. model. or knowledge as 

has been obtained or taken by means of any act which constitutes an offence age.inst this Act at any time wilfully and 

without lawful authority communicates orattempts to co~­

municate the same to any person to \'oihom the s&.me ought not, 

in the interest of the State,, to be corununi~ated at that time; 

or 

{c.) where a person after having been entrusted in oonf1de11ce by 

so~e officer under Her Ma.Jesty the Queen with any document, 

sketch, plan, model, or information relating to any such place 

as aforesaid, or bo ihe naval or military a.f'fairs of Her 

.Ma.Jesty, wilfully and in breech of such confidence communicates the sane when, in tho interest of the State,, it ought 

not bo be communicated, 

ho shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction be liable to 

imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for a term not exceeding 

one year. or to a fine, or to both imprisomnent and a fine. 

(2) Where a person having possession of any document, sketch. 

plan, model, or information relatin~ to any fortress, arsenal, 

factory,, dockyard, ca~p, ship, office, or other like place belonging 

to Her 1'41iJesty, or to t.he Naval or mih tary affairs of Her Majesty, in 
REF ID:A39900 

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whatever manner the same has been obtained or taken. at any time 

rilfully communicates the same to any person to whom he knows the 

same ought not, in the interest of the State, to be communiLated 

at that time, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanour, and be liable 

to the same punishment as if he co:mmited an offence under the 

foregoing provision of this section. 

(3) \'lb.ere a person commits any act declared by this section to 

be a misdemeanour, he shall, if he intended to comrnunicate to a 

foreign State any information, docuoent, sketch, plan, model, or 

knov1ledge obtained or taken by him, or entrusted to hi~ as aforesaid, or if he cOI:lJl'1unicates the same to any agent of a foreign 

State, be guilty of a felony, e.nd on conviction be liable at the 

discretion of the court to penal servitude for life, or for any 

tern not less than five years, or to imprisonment for any term not 

exceeding two years with or without hard labour. 

2. - (l.) Where a person, by means of his holding or having held 

an office under Her U.a.Jesty the Queen, has lawfully or unlawfully 

either obtained possession of or control over any document, sketch, 

plen, or model, or acquired any information, and at any time 

corruptly or contrary to his official duty communicates or attempts 

to communicate that document, sketch, plan, model, or information 

to any person to whom the s8Jlle ought not to be communicated at that ti~e, he shall be guilty of a breach or official trust. 

(2.) A person guilty of a bre~ch of official trust shall - ff 

(a.) if the corununication was made or attempted to be made 

to a foreign State, to be guilty of a felony, and on I 

conviction be liable at the discretion of the court 1 to penal servitude for life, or for any term not less 

than five years, or to imprisonment for any term not 

exceeding two years, with or without hard labour; and 

(b.) in any other case be guilty of a misdemeanor, and 

on conviction be liable to impriso:nment with or without hard labour, for term not exceeding one year, or 

to a fine, or to both J.IDprisonment and a fine. 

(3.) This section shall apply to a person holding a contract 

with any department of the Government of the United Kingdom. or with the holaer of any office under Her MaJesty the 

Queen as such holder, whete such contract involves an 

obligation of secrecy, and to any person employed by any 

pereon or body of persons holding such a contract, who 

is under a like obligation of secrecy, as if the person 

holding the contract and the person so employed were respectively holders of an office under Her UaJesty the Queen. 

3. Any person who incites or counsels, or attempts to procure, I 

another person to corr.mit an offence under this Act, shall be guilty 

of a misdemeanor, and on conviction be liable to the same punishment as if he h~d committed the offence. 

4. The expenses of the prosecution of a misdemeanor under this 

act shall be defrayed in like manner as in the case of a felony. 
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5. If by any law made before or after the passing of this Act 

by the legislature of any British possession provisions are made 

which appear to Her MaJesty the ~ueen to be of the like effect as 

those contained in this Act, Her MaJesty may, by Order in Council, 

suspend the operation within su~h British possession of this Act 

or of any pa.rt thereof, so long as such law continues in f'crce 

there, and no longer, and such order shall have effect as if it 

were enacted in this Act. 

Provided that the suspension of this Act, or any part thereof 

in any British Possession shall not extend to the holder of' an 

office under Her Majesty the Queen who is not appointed to that 

office by the Governnent of that possession. 

The expression "British possession" means any part of Her 

MaJesty's dominions not within the United Kingaom. 

6. - (1.) This act shall apply to all acts made offences bv this 

Act when committed in any part of Her MaJesty's dominions, or when 

committed by British Officers or subjects elsewhere. 

(2.) An offence under this Act, ii' alleged to have committed 

out of the United Kingdom, may be inquired of, heard, and determined, 

in any competent British court in the place ~here the offence was 

ooillI'litted, or in Her Najesty's High Court of Justice in England 

or the Central Criminal Court, and the Act of tho forty-second 

year of the reign of King George the Third, chapter eighty-five, 

shall apply in like manner as if the offence ~ere mentioned in that 

Act, and the Central Criminal Courts as well as the High Court 

possessed the Jurisdiction given by that Act to the Court of King's 

Bench. 

(3.) An offence under this Act shall not be tried by any 

court of generalor quarter sessions, nor by the sheriff court in 

Scotland, nor by any court out of the United Kingdom which haa not 

JUribdiction to try crimes which involve the greatest punishment 

allowed by law. 

(4.) The provisions of the Criminal Law end Procedure 

(Ireland) Act, 1887 ~hall not apply to any trial under the provisions 

of this Act. 

7. - (1.) A prosecution for an offence against this Act shall not 

be instituted except by or with the consent of the Attorney-General. 

(2.) In this section the expression "Attorney-General" means 

the Attorney or Solicitor General for England, and as respects 

Scotland, means the Lord Advocate, and as respects Ireland, weans 

the Attorney or Solicitor General for Ireland, and if the prosecution 

is instituted in any aourt of the United Kingdom, means the person 

who in that cCllrt is Attorney-General. or exercises the like functions 

es the Attorney-Gener~! in England. 

a. In this Act, unless the context otherwisw requiresAny reference to a place belonging to Her M&Jesty the Queen includes a place belonging to any department of the Government 

of the United Kingdom or of any of Her llaJesty's possessions, 

whether the plaoe is or is not actually vested in Her i'4a.Jesty. 
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REF ID:A39900 

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Expressions referring to communications include any canmunication, 

whether in whole or in part, and whether the document, sketch, 

plen, model, or information itself or the substanne or effect 

thereof only be communicated, 

The expression 11 dooument" includes part of a document, 

The expression 11model0 includes design, pattern, and specimen, 

The expression 11 sketch11 includes any photograph or other mode 

of representation of any place or thing, 

The expression "office under Her Ma.Jesty the Queen" includes 

any office or employment in or under any department of the 

Government of the United Kingdom, ~nd so far as regards any 

document, sketch, plan, model, or information relating to 

the naval or military affairs of Her Majesty, i~cludes any 

office or employment in or under any department of the Government or any of Her MaJeSty's possessions. 

9. This Act shall not exempt any person from any proceeding for 

an offence whicp is punishable at common law, or by military or 

naval law, or under any Act of Parliament other than this Act, so, 

however, that no person be punished twice for the same offence. 

10. This Act may be cited as the Official Secrets Act. 1889.