Source: https://www.hendersonchambers.co.uk/2013/12/12/public-private-hearings/
Timestamp: 2019-04-26 08:35:29+00:00

Document:
2. The principle of open justice has long been recognised. In Scott v. Scott  AC 417, Lord Shaw of Dunfermline at p476 said that publicity in the administration of justice was “one of the surest guarantees of our liberties”, and cited from Bentham and Hallam “publicity is the very soul of justice.” For modern statements of the principle see Attorney-General v. Leveller Magazine Limited  AC 440 at 450; R v. Legal Aid Board ex parte Kaim Todner  QB 966, and Sir Jack Jacob’s Hamlyn Lecture, The Fabric of English Civil Justice (38th Series, 1987), quoted by Lord Woolf MR in Hodgson v. Imperial Tobacco Limited  1 WLR 1056 at 1069.
4. In Storer v. British Gas Plc  2 All ER 440 the Court of Appeal said that the principle was no less important in employment tribunal proceedings than in other proceedings. In that case, a coded door lock was a physical barrier to prevent access by the public to a hearing and there was no chance of a member of the public dropping in to see how the tribunal was conducted. The fact that no one had attempted to gain access did not matter. The court held that the tribunal had been sitting in private and it had no jurisdiction to do so, and accordingly its decision would be quashed and the matter remitted for re-hearing before another tribunal. This followed the decision in McPherson v. McPherson  AC 177 where Lord Blanesburgh said that it was immaterial whether any member of the public was actually present or not.

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