TIMES.KY

Cayman Islands, Caribbeanand International News
Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Judge acted unlawfully over hearing on Prince Philip’s will, court told

Judge acted unlawfully over hearing on Prince Philip’s will, court told

The Guardian is attempting to overturn decision that prevented media from attending hearing
A leading judge acted unlawfully by authorising a secret court hearing in which he decided that Prince Philip’s will should be kept secret without notifying the media, an appeal court has heard.

On Wednesday the Guardian opened its legal case to overturn the decision that prevented media from attending the hearing, arguing that it was a serious interference with the principle of open justice.

Sir Andrew McFarlane, the president of the family division of the high court, ordered the sealing of Philip’s will for 90 years last September after a secret hearing in which he approved a confidential application from lawyers representing the royal family. The Queen’s husband died at the age of 99 in April 2021.

In a practice dating from 1911, high court judges have approved the closure of the wills of 33 members of the royal family after similarly secret court hearings and applications from the Windsors’ lawyers. The judiciary has never refused such a request from members of the Windsor family.

The rulings meant that these members of the royal family, some of them distant relatives, have been exempted from a law stipulating that the wills of British people are ordinarily open to being inspected.

At the start of the hearing, Caoilfhionn Gallagher QC, for the Guardian, said it was wrong that the media had not been notified about the hearing to close Philip’s will and were therefore unable to attend or making submissions in favour of open justice.

She said: “This was an entirely private, closed hearing, without access by accredited journalists or any other form of external scrutiny. An entirely private hearing such as this is the most serious interference with open justice.

“It is an exceptional step that requires exceptional justification. In this case, [McFarlane] decided to take such an exceptional step without even inviting or permitting members of the media to make submissions about whether such a procedure was fair or justified.”

The legal challenge is opposed by lawyers for the royal family and the attorney general, both of whom made confidential submissions last year to keep secret Philip’s will and exclude the media from the original hearing.

Last September McFarlane ruled that it was justified to exempt senior royals from the general rule requiring the publication of wills. “It is necessary to enhance the protection afforded to the private lives of this unique group of individuals, in order to protect the dignity and standing of the public role of the sovereign and other close members of her family,” he decided.

McFarlane had also decided that it was right that the attorney general had represented the public interest in the private hearing.

Lawyers representing the executors of Philip’s will and the attorney general argue that McFarlane acted properly, submitting that the media had no right to attend the hearing.

In a written submission, James Eadie QC, for the attorney general, said the context in which the application to seal the will was made was “exceptional”, adding: “Prince Philip was a senior member of the royal family as consort to H[er] M[ajesty] the Queen. His death had occurred only a few months earlier.”

He added that the practice of sealing wills such as Philip’s was part of a “consistent and longstanding” convention over more than a century.

He rejected the Guardian’s argument that McFarlane acted wrongly when he allowed the attorney general to represent the public interest. Eadie said: “The attorney has a proper, well-established, non-political role as the independent guardian of the public interest in the administration of justice.”

Jonathan Crow QC, for Farrers, Philip’s executors, described the challenge as “an utterly barren procedural appeal” and said the attorney general was “the only person entitled to come to court to address the public interest”. He said the media had no legally enforceable right to be heard in cases in which they were not parties.

“Accordingly it cannot be said that [McFarlane] made an error of law purely and simply because no media representatives were heard before a decision was taken to hear the matter in private,” he said.

The hearing, which is being heard by Sir Geoffrey Vos, master of the rolls, Dame Victoria Sharp, president of the Queen’s bench division, and Lady Justice King, continues.

On Monday the Guardian reported that the secrecy prevented the public from seeing how assets worth at least £187m at today’s prices, which were outlined in the 33 closed wills, were distributed.
Newsletter

Related Articles

TIMES.KY
0:00
0:00
Close
Paper straws found to contain long-lasting and potentially toxic chemicals - study
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
Blackrock gets half a trillion dollar deal to rebuild Ukraine
Israel: Unprecedented Civil Disobedience Looms as IDF Reservists Protest Judiciary Reform
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
Singapore Carries Out First Execution of a Woman in Two Decades Amid Capital Punishment Debate
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Unlike illegal imigrants coming by boats - US Citizens Will Need Visa To Travel To Europe in 2024
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
The politician and the journalist lost control and started fighting on live broadcast.
The future of sports
Unveiling the Black Hole: The Mysterious Fate of EU's Aid to Ukraine
Farewell to a Music Titan: Tony Bennett, Renowned Jazz and Pop Vocalist, Passes Away at 96
Alarming Behavior Among Florida's Sharks Raises Concerns Over Possible Cocaine Exposure
Transgender Exclusion in Miss Italy Stirs Controversy Amidst Changing Global Beauty Pageant Landscape
Joe Biden admitted, in his own words, that he delivered what he promised in exchange for the $10 million bribe he received from the Ukraine Oil Company.
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Global Trend: Using Anti-Fake News Laws as Censorship Tools - A Deep Dive into Tunisia's Scenario
Arresting Putin During South African Visit Would Equate to War Declaration, Asserts President Ramaphosa
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
The Changing Face of Europe: How Mass Migration is Reshaping the Political Landscape
China Urges EU to Clarify Strategic Partnership Amid Trade Tensions
Europe is boiling: Extreme Weather Conditions Prevail Across the Continent
The Last Pour: Anchor Brewing, America's Pioneer Craft Brewer, Closes After 127 Years
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Italian Court's Controversial Ruling on Sexual Harassment Ignites Uproar
Why Do Tech Executives Support Kennedy Jr.?
The New York Times Announces Closure of its Sports Section in Favor of The Athletic
BBC Anchor Huw Edwards Hospitalized Amid Child Sex Abuse Allegations, Family Confirms
Florida Attorney General requests Meta CEO's testimony on company's platforms' alleged facilitation of illicit activities
The Distorted Mirror of actual approval ratings: Examining the True Threat to Democracy Beyond the Persona of Putin
40,000 child slaves in Congo are forced to work in cobalt mines so we can drive electric cars.
BBC Personalities Rebuke Accusations Amidst Scandal Involving Teen Exploitation
A Swift Disappointment: Why Is Taylor Swift Bypassing Canada on Her Global Tour?
Historic Moment: Edgars Rinkevics, EU's First Openly Gay Head of State, Takes Office as Latvia's President
Bye bye democracy, human rights, freedom: French Cops Can Now Secretly Activate Phone Cameras, Microphones And GPS To Spy On Citizens
The Poor Man With Money, Mark Zuckerberg, Unveils Twitter Replica with Heavy-Handed Censorship: A New Low in Innovation?
Unilever Plummets in a $2.5 Billion Free Fall, to begin with: A Reckoning for Misuse of Corporate Power Against National Interest
Beyond the Blame Game: The Need for Nuanced Perspectives on America's Complex Reality
Twitter Targets Meta: A Tangle of Trade Secrets and Copycat Culture
The Double-Edged Sword of AI: AI is linked to layoffs in industry that created it
US Sanctions on China's Chip Industry Backfire, Prompting Self-Inflicted Blowback
Meta Copy Twitter with New App, Threads
The New French Revolution
BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Application Refiled, Naming Coinbase as ‘Surveillance-Sharing’ Partner
×