Michael Tugendhat
Encyclopedia
Sir Michael George Tugendhat (born 21 October 1944), styled The Hon. Mr Justice Tugendhat, in legal writing Tugendhat J, is a High Court judge
in England and Wales
. He is the UK's senior media judge, taking over that role from Justice Eady
on 1 October 2010. His appointment was welcomed by some journalists who believed he held "more enlightened beliefs" than did his predecessor.
Michael Tugendhat is the son of Dr Georg Tugendhat, an immigrant from Austria who founded a petrochemical refinery, and his wife Marie Littledale. His elder brother Christopher Tugendhat
is a politician, businessman, and author. He is married and has four sons.
Tugendhat attended Ampleforth College
and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
, where he studied philosophy and classics. He won the Henry Fellowship to attend Yale Law School
and studied at the Hague Academy of International Law
before being called to the Bar of the Inner Temple
in 1969. He then joined Five Raymond Buildings (5RB), a set of barrister
s specialising in media and entertainment law. Tugendhat became a Queen's Counsel
in 1986. He became a Recorder
of the Crown Court
in 1994 and a deputy judge sitting in the High Court of Justice
in 1995. In 2000, he became a judge sitting in the appeal courts of Jersey and Guernsey. He was appointed a High Court Judge, Queen's Bench division, in 2003. In 2010 he was appointed to be the Judge in Charge of the Queen's Bench jury lists. He is a fellow of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies
. He was formerly on the management committee of the Advice on Individual Rights in Europe Centre.
Described by The Guardian as "Britain's leading expert on privacy law", Tugendhat told the Commons' select committee on Culture, Media and Sport:
and Victoria Beckham
, who were petitioning the High Court to prevent the publication of a biography of them by Andrew Morton
. The Beckhams claimed a portion of the book was derived from confidential information passed on by their former bodyguard, who was already enjoined from making public disclosures about the couple. Tugendhat called the bodyguard's conduct "a very bad case of disloyalty and breach of confidentiality" but opposing council Geoffrey Robertson
QC argued Morton and his publisher enjoyed protection of their free speech in this regard. The parties reached an out of court settlement and the book was published.
In 2001 he represented the Sunday Times newspaper in its efforts to publish extracts a book by former MI6 officer Richard Tomlinson
. The Attorney General sought to compel newspapers to gain the approval of the Government before publishing such sensitive information. The court (Lord Phillips
, Lord Justice Tuckey, and Lord Justice Longmore
) ruled that, as the information had already been published in Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda
, it was already in the public domain and so the restraint on publication in the UK couldn't be justified.
Later in 2001 he acted for a number of newspapers including The Times
, the Daily Mirror and the Daily Mail
, which sought to overturn a blanket ban on publishing unauthorised disclosures be former MI5
agents, including those of David Shayler
. The House of Lords ruled that the statutory prohibition on agents revealing secret information was proportional and did not contravene Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Also in 2001 Tugendhat represented internet service provider
Demon Internet
, which sought to amend a ruling which would hold it responsible if any of its customers used the Demon service to identify the new identities of the killers of James Bulger
. The court amended to the order to indemnify Demon and other ISPs providing they took "take all reasonable steps" to remove the infringing material. The order remained more onerous than Demon had wished - Tugendhat said of it "Happy would not be the word, but we have all signed it."
In 2002, in the case Theakston v Mirror Group Newspapers Ltd
, he represented TV presenter Jamie Theakston
, who sought to injunct newspapers from publishing a story about Theakston visiting a London brothel
, arguing that, as the alleged visit took place in private, The Sunday Peoples publication of details infringed his right to privacy under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Denying the petition to impose the injunction, Mr Justice Ouseley ruled "It is not inherent in the nature of a brothel that all or anything that transpires within is confidential."
In 2003 Tugendhat appeared for actor Michael Douglas
and his wife Catherine Zeta Jones in the case Douglas v Hello! Ltd before the High Court. Douglas and Jones had sold rights to publish photographs of their 2000 wedding to celebrity news magazine OK!
, but a paparazzo
surreptitiously photographed the proceedings and sold his photographs to OK's competitor Hello. Douglas, Jones, and OK! sued Hellos publisher, alleging their privacy had been invaded and claiming £1.75 million in damages. Refuting the claim that the couple's selling photos of their wedding rendered the event "not genuinely private", Tugendhat argued "If Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones could not offer a slice without offering the whole cake, then their own freedom of expression is diminished." The Douglases were successful in their claim; Hello appealed to the Court of Appeals
which denied the appeal. Hello then appealed to the House of Lords which (in a combined ruling with OBG Ltd v Allan
), also denied the appeal.
which prevented the media from revealing details of his affair with team-mate Wayne Bridge
's former girlfriend, Vanessa Perroncel, saying he did not feel the order was "necessary or proportionate". He also criticised Terry's lawyers for not notifying newspapers of the action they were taking.
In June 2010, his ruling in favour of Lynn Barber
and the Telegraph Media Group
over Barber's review of Sarah Thornton
's book Seven Days in the Art World was said to "raise the bar for libel claimants". Barber had stated that she had given her interviewees copy approval, a practice of which journalists would "disapprove", which Thornton considered defamatory. Justice Tugendhat accepted the argument of the Telegraph Media Group's solicitor advocate David Price that there should be a "threshold of seriousness" for libel claims to prevent trivial claims and that a claimant should be able to demonstrate a "substantial effect" on their reputation in order to prove defamation.
In May 2011 Mr Justice Tugendhat partially lifted a gagging order brought by Sir Fred Goodwin
, the former chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland
, just hours after details of his alleged extra-marital affair were made public in the House of Lords.
Mr Justice Tugendhat varied the injunction to allow publication of Goodwin's name, but not details of the alleged relationship and the name of the woman said to be involved.
High Court judge
A High Court judge is a judge of the High Court of Justice, and represents the third highest level of judge in the courts of England and Wales. High Court judges are referred to as puisne judges...
in England and Wales
England and Wales
England and Wales is a jurisdiction within the United Kingdom. It consists of England and Wales, two of the four countries of the United Kingdom...
. He is the UK's senior media judge, taking over that role from Justice Eady
David Eady
Sir David Eady , styled The Hon. Mr Justice Eady, in legal writing Eady J, is a High Court judge in England and Wales. As a judge he is known for having presided over many high-profile libel and privacy cases....
on 1 October 2010. His appointment was welcomed by some journalists who believed he held "more enlightened beliefs" than did his predecessor.
Michael Tugendhat is the son of Dr Georg Tugendhat, an immigrant from Austria who founded a petrochemical refinery, and his wife Marie Littledale. His elder brother Christopher Tugendhat
Christopher Tugendhat, Baron Tugendhat
Christopher Samuel Tugendhat, Baron Tugendhat is a British politician belonging to the Conservative party, businessman, company director and chairman, and journalist/author.-Family background:...
is a politician, businessman, and author. He is married and has four sons.
Tugendhat attended Ampleforth College
Ampleforth College
Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire, England, is the largest Roman Catholic co-educational boarding independent school in the United Kingdom. It opened in 1802, as a boys' school, and is run by the Benedictine monks and lay staff of Ampleforth Abbey...
and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Gonville and Caius College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college is often referred to simply as "Caius" , after its second founder, John Keys, who fashionably latinised the spelling of his name after studying in Italy.- Outline :Gonville and...
, where he studied philosophy and classics. He won the Henry Fellowship to attend Yale Law School
Yale Law School
Yale Law School, or YLS, is the law school of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Established in 1824, it offers the J.D., LL.M., J.S.D. and M.S.L. degrees in law. It also hosts visiting scholars, visiting researchers and a number of legal research centers...
and studied at the Hague Academy of International Law
Hague Academy of International Law
The Hague Academy of International Law is a center for high-level education in both public and private international law housed in the Peace Palace in The Hague, The Netherlands...
before being called to the Bar of the Inner Temple
Inner Temple
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...
in 1969. He then joined Five Raymond Buildings (5RB), a set of barrister
Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
s specialising in media and entertainment law. Tugendhat became a Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
in 1986. He became a Recorder
Recorder (judge)
A Recorder is a judicial officer in England and Wales. It now refers to two quite different appointments. The ancient Recorderships of England and Wales now form part of a system of Honorary Recorderships which are filled by the most senior full-time circuit judges...
of the Crown Court
Crown Court
The Crown Court of England and Wales is, together with the High Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal, one of the constituent parts of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
in 1994 and a deputy judge sitting in the High Court of Justice
High Court of Justice
The High Court of Justice is, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, one of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
in 1995. In 2000, he became a judge sitting in the appeal courts of Jersey and Guernsey. He was appointed a High Court Judge, Queen's Bench division, in 2003. In 2010 he was appointed to be the Judge in Charge of the Queen's Bench jury lists. He is a fellow of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies
Institute of Advanced Legal Studies
The Institute of Advanced Legal Studies is part of the School of Advanced Study of the University of London. It was founded in 1946 as a national academic institution to promote and advance legal research, implementing a proposal of 1934 report of the Legal Education Committee chaired by Lord Atkin...
. He was formerly on the management committee of the Advice on Individual Rights in Europe Centre.
Described by The Guardian as "Britain's leading expert on privacy law", Tugendhat told the Commons' select committee on Culture, Media and Sport:
As an advocate
In 2000 Tugendhat acted for DavidDavid Beckham
David Robert Joseph Beckham, OBE is an English footballer who plays midfield for Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer, having previously played for Manchester United, Preston North End, Real Madrid, and A.C...
and Victoria Beckham
Victoria Beckham
Victoria Caroline Beckham is an English singer-songwriter, dancer, model, actress, fashion designer and businesswoman. In the late 1990s, Beckham rose to fame with the all-female pop group Spice Girls and was dubbed Posh Spice by the July 1996 issue of the British pop music magazine Top of the Pops...
, who were petitioning the High Court to prevent the publication of a biography of them by Andrew Morton
Andrew Morton (writer)
Andrew David Morton is a former British Fleet Street journalist, a notable writer and biographer.Before moving into a career in journalism, he attended grammar school, then studied history at the University of Sussex....
. The Beckhams claimed a portion of the book was derived from confidential information passed on by their former bodyguard, who was already enjoined from making public disclosures about the couple. Tugendhat called the bodyguard's conduct "a very bad case of disloyalty and breach of confidentiality" but opposing council Geoffrey Robertson
Geoffrey Robertson
Geoffrey Ronald Robertson QC is an Australian-born human rights lawyer, academic, author and broadcaster. He holds dual Australian and British citizenship....
QC argued Morton and his publisher enjoyed protection of their free speech in this regard. The parties reached an out of court settlement and the book was published.
In 2001 he represented the Sunday Times newspaper in its efforts to publish extracts a book by former MI6 officer Richard Tomlinson
Richard Tomlinson
Richard Tomlinson is a New Zealand-born British former MI6 officer who was imprisoned during 1997 for violating the Official Secrets Act 1989 by giving the synopsis of a proposed book detailing his career in the Secret Intelligence Service to an Australian publisher...
. The Attorney General sought to compel newspapers to gain the approval of the Government before publishing such sensitive information. The court (Lord Phillips
Nicholas Phillips, Baron Phillips of Worth Matravers
Nicholas Addison Phillips, Baron Phillips of Worth Matravers, KG PC is the President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. Before 1 October 2009 his title was Senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary. He was Master of the Rolls from 2000 to 2005 and Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales from 2005...
, Lord Justice Tuckey, and Lord Justice Longmore
Andrew Longmore
Sir Andrew Centlivres Longmore, QC , styled The Rt Hon. Lord Justice Longmore, is a British lawyer and judge.Educated at Winchester College and Lincoln College, Oxford, he was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple in 1966 and was appointed a QC in 1983...
) ruled that, as the information had already been published in Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda
Komsomolskaya Pravda
Komsomolskaya Pravda is a daily Russian tabloid newspaper, founded on March 13th, 1925. It is published by "Izdatelsky Dom Komsomolskaya Pravda" .- History :...
, it was already in the public domain and so the restraint on publication in the UK couldn't be justified.
Later in 2001 he acted for a number of newspapers including The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, the Daily Mirror and the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
, which sought to overturn a blanket ban on publishing unauthorised disclosures be former MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
agents, including those of David Shayler
David Shayler
David Shayler is a British journalist and former MI5 officer. Shayler earned notoriety after being prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act 1989 for his passing secret documents to the Mail on Sunday in August 1997 that alleged that MI5 was paranoid about socialists, and that it had previously...
. The House of Lords ruled that the statutory prohibition on agents revealing secret information was proportional and did not contravene Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Also in 2001 Tugendhat represented internet service provider
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...
Demon Internet
Demon Internet
Demon Internet is a British Internet Service Provider. It was one of the UK's earliest ISPs, especially targeting the "dialup" audience. It started on 1 June 1992 from an idea posted on CIX by Cliff Stanford of Demon Systems Ltd. The branch in the Netherlands started in 1996, and was sold to KPN...
, which sought to amend a ruling which would hold it responsible if any of its customers used the Demon service to identify the new identities of the killers of James Bulger
Murder of James Bulger
James Patrick Bulger was a boy from Kirkby, England, who was murdered on 12 February 1993, when aged two. He was abducted, tortured and murdered by two ten-year-old boys, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables .Bulger disappeared from the New Strand Shopping Centre in Bootle, near Liverpool, while...
. The court amended to the order to indemnify Demon and other ISPs providing they took "take all reasonable steps" to remove the infringing material. The order remained more onerous than Demon had wished - Tugendhat said of it "Happy would not be the word, but we have all signed it."
In 2002, in the case Theakston v Mirror Group Newspapers Ltd
Theakston v Mirror Group Newspapers Ltd
Theakston v Mirror Group Newspapers Ltd [2002] EWHC 137 was a High Court judgment in which British television presenter Jamie Theakston attempted to injunct the Sunday People from publishing a story about how he visited a brothel in Mayfair, London....
, he represented TV presenter Jamie Theakston
Jamie Theakston
Jamie Theakston is an English television and radio presenter, producer and actor.-Education:...
, who sought to injunct newspapers from publishing a story about Theakston visiting a London brothel
Brothel
Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...
, arguing that, as the alleged visit took place in private, The Sunday Peoples publication of details infringed his right to privacy under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Denying the petition to impose the injunction, Mr Justice Ouseley ruled "It is not inherent in the nature of a brothel that all or anything that transpires within is confidential."
In 2003 Tugendhat appeared for actor Michael Douglas
Michael Douglas
Michael Kirk Douglas is an American actor and producer, primarily in movies and television. He has won three Golden Globes and two Academy Awards; first as producer of 1975's Best Picture, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and as Best Actor in 1987 for his role in Wall Street. Douglas received the...
and his wife Catherine Zeta Jones in the case Douglas v Hello! Ltd before the High Court. Douglas and Jones had sold rights to publish photographs of their 2000 wedding to celebrity news magazine OK!
OK!
OK! is a British weekly magazine specializing in celebrity news. Originally launched as a monthly, its first issue was published in April 1993. In September 2004, OK! publishers Northern and Shell launched in Australia as a monthly title – the magazine went weekly in October 2006...
, but a paparazzo
Paparazzi
Paparazzi is an Italian term used to refer to photojournalists who specialize in candid photography of celebrities, politicians, and other prominent people...
surreptitiously photographed the proceedings and sold his photographs to OK's competitor Hello. Douglas, Jones, and OK! sued Hellos publisher, alleging their privacy had been invaded and claiming £1.75 million in damages. Refuting the claim that the couple's selling photos of their wedding rendered the event "not genuinely private", Tugendhat argued "If Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones could not offer a slice without offering the whole cake, then their own freedom of expression is diminished." The Douglases were successful in their claim; Hello appealed to the Court of Appeals
Court of Appeal of England and Wales
The Court of Appeal of England and Wales is the second most senior court in the English legal system, with only the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom above it...
which denied the appeal. Hello then appealed to the House of Lords which (in a combined ruling with OBG Ltd v Allan
OBG Ltd v Allan
OBG Ltd v Allan [2007] was a combined appeal with Douglas v Hello! Ltd and Mainstream Properties Ltd v Young and stands as the leading case on economic torts in English law.-Facts:Lord Hoffmann in his judgment summarised the facts.-Judgment:...
), also denied the appeal.
As a judge
In January 2010, he overturned a superinjunction imposed on behalf footballer John TerryJohn Terry
John George Terry is an English professional footballer. Terry plays in a centre back position and is the captain of Chelsea in the Premier League...
which prevented the media from revealing details of his affair with team-mate Wayne Bridge
Wayne Bridge
Wayne Michael Bridge is an English footballer who plays as a left back for Manchester City.A graduate of the Southampton Academy where he made his debut in 1998, he has also played for Chelsea and Fulham during his Premiership career....
's former girlfriend, Vanessa Perroncel, saying he did not feel the order was "necessary or proportionate". He also criticised Terry's lawyers for not notifying newspapers of the action they were taking.
In June 2010, his ruling in favour of Lynn Barber
Lynn Barber
Lynn Barber is a British journalist, who writes for The Sunday Times.-Early life:Barber attended Lady Eleanor Holles School...
and the Telegraph Media Group
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
over Barber's review of Sarah Thornton
Sarah Thornton
Sarah Thornton is a writer and sociologist of culture. Her early work was about clubs, raves, music taste and cultural hierarchies. Thornton has authored and edited works about subcultures. She now writes principally about art, artists and the art market...
's book Seven Days in the Art World was said to "raise the bar for libel claimants". Barber had stated that she had given her interviewees copy approval, a practice of which journalists would "disapprove", which Thornton considered defamatory. Justice Tugendhat accepted the argument of the Telegraph Media Group's solicitor advocate David Price that there should be a "threshold of seriousness" for libel claims to prevent trivial claims and that a claimant should be able to demonstrate a "substantial effect" on their reputation in order to prove defamation.
In May 2011 Mr Justice Tugendhat partially lifted a gagging order brought by Sir Fred Goodwin
Fred Goodwin
Sir Frederick Anderson Goodwin CA, FCIBS is a Scottish chartered accountant and former banker who was chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group between 2001 and 2009....
, the former chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland
Royal Bank of Scotland
The Royal Bank of Scotland Group is a British banking and insurance holding company in which the UK Government holds an 84% stake. This stake is held and managed through UK Financial Investments Limited, whose voting rights are limited to 75% in order for the bank to retain its listing on the...
, just hours after details of his alleged extra-marital affair were made public in the House of Lords.
Mr Justice Tugendhat varied the injunction to allow publication of Goodwin's name, but not details of the alleged relationship and the name of the woman said to be involved.
External links
- Interview with Michael Tugendhat, SpikedSpiked (magazine)Spiked is a British Internet magazine focusing on politics, culture and society from a humanist and libertarian viewpoint.- Editors and contributors :...
, 22 October 2002