Attorney General v Blake
Encyclopedia
Attorney General v Blake [2000] UKHL 45 is a leading English contract law
case on damages for breach of contract. It established that in some circumstances where ordinary remedies are inadequate, restitutionary damages may be awarded.
was a former member of the Secret Intelligence Service
(MI6) from 1944 to 1961. For his employment contract he had signed an Official Secrets Act 1911
declaration to disclose no information about his work. It applied after his employment ceased. In 1951 he became a Soviet agent, thus being a double agent
. The British government imprisoned him in Wormwood Scrubs (HM Prison)
. He escaped and fled to the Soviet Union. He wrote a book about it and his secret services work called No Other Choice. He got a publishing contract for release in 1989 with Jonathan Cape Ltd. The information in the book was no longer confidential. Blake received advanced payments and was entitled to more. The Crown brought an action for all the profits he made on the book including those that he had not yet received. It argued a restitutionary principle should apply.
. An absolute rule against disclosure was necessary to ensure that the secret service was able to deal in complete confidence. It was in the Crown’s legitimate interest to ensure Blake did not benefit from revealing state information. The normal contractual remedies of damages, specific performance or injunction were not enough, and the publishers should pay any money owing to Blake to the Crown. Lord Hobhouse dissented. He would have held that since the information was no longer confidential, there could be no misuse of confidential information. Lord Nicholls at [84] made the famous statement that [R]estitution for breach of contract must be accepted in some situations. These situations may never be as exceptional as that which we are passing judgment on today, but notwithstanding this there is no other conclusion the court can reach.
Trusts cases
Other contract cases
English contract law
English contract law is a body of law regulating contracts in England and Wales. With its roots in the lex mercatoria and the activism of the judiciary during the industrial revolution, it shares a heritage with countries across the Commonwealth , and the United States...
case on damages for breach of contract. It established that in some circumstances where ordinary remedies are inadequate, restitutionary damages may be awarded.
Facts
George BlakeGeorge Blake
George Blake is a former British spy known for having been a double agent in the service of the Soviet Union. Discovered in 1961 and sentenced to 42 years in prison, he escaped from Wormwood Scrubs prison in 1966 and fled to the USSR...
was a former member of the Secret Intelligence Service
Secret Intelligence Service
The Secret Intelligence Service is responsible for supplying the British Government with foreign intelligence. Alongside the internal Security Service , the Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence Intelligence , it operates under the formal direction of the Joint Intelligence...
(MI6) from 1944 to 1961. For his employment contract he had signed an Official Secrets Act 1911
Official Secrets Act 1911
The Official Secrets Act 1911 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It replaces the Official Secrets Act 1889....
declaration to disclose no information about his work. It applied after his employment ceased. In 1951 he became a Soviet agent, thus being a double agent
Double agent
A double agent, commonly abbreviated referral of double secret agent, is a counterintelligence term used to designate an employee of a secret service or organization, whose primary aim is to spy on the target organization, but who in fact is a member of that same target organization oneself. They...
. The British government imprisoned him in Wormwood Scrubs (HM Prison)
Wormwood Scrubs (HM Prison)
HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs is a Category B men's prison, located in the Wormwood Scrubs area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, in inner west London, England. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service....
. He escaped and fled to the Soviet Union. He wrote a book about it and his secret services work called No Other Choice. He got a publishing contract for release in 1989 with Jonathan Cape Ltd. The information in the book was no longer confidential. Blake received advanced payments and was entitled to more. The Crown brought an action for all the profits he made on the book including those that he had not yet received. It argued a restitutionary principle should apply.
Judgment
Lord Nicholls, Lord Goff of Chieveley, Lord Browne-Wilkinson and Lord Steyn held that in exceptional cases, when the normal remedy is inadequate to compensate for breach of contract, the court can order the defendant to account for all profits. This was an exceptional case. Blake had harmed the public interest. Publication was a further breach of his undertaking of confidentiality. Disclosure of non-confidential information was also a criminal offence under the Official Secrets Act 1911Official Secrets Act 1911
The Official Secrets Act 1911 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It replaces the Official Secrets Act 1889....
. An absolute rule against disclosure was necessary to ensure that the secret service was able to deal in complete confidence. It was in the Crown’s legitimate interest to ensure Blake did not benefit from revealing state information. The normal contractual remedies of damages, specific performance or injunction were not enough, and the publishers should pay any money owing to Blake to the Crown. Lord Hobhouse dissented. He would have held that since the information was no longer confidential, there could be no misuse of confidential information. Lord Nicholls at [84] made the famous statement that [R]estitution for breach of contract must be accepted in some situations. These situations may never be as exceptional as that which we are passing judgment on today, but notwithstanding this there is no other conclusion the court can reach.
See also
Termination and restitution cases- Ruxley Electronics & Construction v Forsyth [1996] AC 344
- Experience Hendrix LLC v PPX Enterprises Inc [2003] EWCA Civ 323, [2003] 1 All ER (Comm) 830
- World Wide Fund for Nature v World Wrestling Federation Entertainment Inc [2007] EWCA Civ 286
Trusts cases
- Keech v Sandford (1726) 25 ER 223
- Boardman v Phipps, the strict fiduciary duty in English trusts lawEnglish trusts lawEnglish trusts law is the original and foundational law of trusts in the world, and a unique contribution of English law to the legal system. Trusts are part of the law of property, and arise where one person gives assets English trusts law is the original and foundational law of trusts in the...
to have no possibility of a conflict of interest
Other contract cases
- Nottingham University v Fischel [2000] EWHC 221 (QB), [2000] IRLR 471, where an employee was held to be under no general fiduciary duty to refrain from undertaking outside private clinic work, but did breach a fiduciary duty where he had directed junior university staff to assist him in that outside work. The latter created a conflict of interest, whereas the former did not since patients would not have used the University's services.
- Hospital Products Ltd v US Surgical Corporation (1984) 156 CLR 41, a senior executive of an American company, Mr Blackman, was held liable to pay heavy compensation for breach of contract for copying the invention of the company when he found it was unpatented in Australia. But, the Australian High Court held Mr Blackman (and his company, Hospital Products Ltd) was not liable to disgorge profits unless some "fiduciary" relationship could be identified. Deane J dissented, holding there could be an account of profits. The dissent was approved by P Birks, 'The Content of Fiduciary Obligation' (2000) 34 Israel Law Review 3, 22
- Adras Building Material Ltd v Harlow & Jones GmbH [1995] RLR 235, Israel Supreme Court holds a person liable for account of profits after breach of an employment contract