The Crown Proceedings Act 1947 (1947 c. 44) is an Act of Parliament passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom that allowed, for the first time, civil actions against the Crown to be brought in the same way as against any other party. The Act also reasserted the common law doctrine of Crown privilege but by making it, for the first time, justiciable paved the way for the development of the modern law of Public Interest Immunity. This is a list of Acts of the Scottish Parliament. ... This is a list of Acts passed by the Parliament of Northern Ireland. ... This is a list of Acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly passed by that body during its existence between 2000 and 2002 when it was suspended. ... This is a list of Measures of the National Assembly for Wales. ... The is a list of Orders in Council for Northern Ireland which are primary legislation for the province when the it is being directly ruled from London and also for those powers not devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly. ... Statutory Instruments (SIs) are parts of United Kingdom law separate from Acts of Parliament which do not require full Parliamentary approval before becoming law. ... An Act of Parliament or Act is law enacted by the parliament (see legislation). ... Type Bicameral Houses House of Commons House of Lords Speaker of the House of Commons The Right Honourable Michael Martin MP Lord Speaker Hélène Hayman, Baroness Hayman, PC Members 1377 (646 Commons, 731 Peers) Political groups (as of May 5, 2005 elections) Labour Party Conservative Party Liberal Democrats... A lawsuit is a civil action brought before a court in order to recover a right, obtain damages for an injury, obtain an injunction to prevent an injury, or obtain a declaratory judgment to prevent future legal disputes. ... Throughout the Commonwealth Realms The Crown is an abstract concept which represents the legal authority for the existence of any government. ... This article concerns the common-law legal system, as contrasted with the civil law legal system; for other meanings of the term, within the field of law, see common law (disambiguation). ... Justiciability is a term used in civil procedure to describe whether a dispute is capable of being settled by a court of law. ... Public Interest Immunity (PII) is a principle of English common law under which the English courts can grant a court order allowing one litigant to refrain from disclosing evidence to the other litigants where disclosure would be damaging to the public interest. ...

The Act received the Royal assent on 31 July 1947 but did not fully come into force until 1 January 1948.^[1] It remains substantially in force in the UK. // The granting of Royal Assent is the formal method by which a constitutional monarch completes the legislative process of lawmaking by formally assenting to an Act of Parliament. ...

Background

Before the Act, the Crown could not be sued in contract. However, as it was seen to be desirable that Crown contractors could obtain redress, they would otherwise be inhibited from taking on such work, so a petition of right came to be used in such situations, especially after the Petitions of Right Act 1860 simplified the process. It has been suggested that civil trial be merged into this article or section. ... A contract is a legally binding exchange of promises or agreement between parties that the law will enforce. ... Wikisource has original text related to this article: Petition of Right The Petition of Right is a document produced by the English Parliament in the run-up to the English Civil War. ...

Before the petition could be heard by the courts, it had to be endorsed with the words fiat justitia on the advice of the Home Secretary and Attorney-General.^[2] The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the United Kingdom Home Office and is responsible for internal affairs in England and Wales, and for immigration and citizenship for the whole United Kingdom (including Scotland and Northern Ireland). ... In most common law jurisdictions, the Attorney General or Attorney-General is the main legal adviser to the government, and in some jurisdictions may in addition have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions. ...

Simlarly, the Crown could not be sued in tort. The usual remedy was for the complainant to sue the public servant responsible for the injury. A famous example was the case of Entick v. Carrington. The Crown usually indemnified the servant against any damages. Tort is a legal term that means a civil wrong, as opposed to a criminal wrong, that is recognized by law as grounds for a lawsuit. ... Entick v. ... In law, damages refers to the money paid or awarded to a claimant (as it is known in the UK) or plaintiff (in the US) following their successful claim in a civil action. ...

The Act

Section 1 of the Act allows claims, for which a petition of right would previously have been demanded, to be brought in the courts directly as against any other defendant. However, a petition and fiat still appear to be necessary for personal claims against the monarch.^[2] “King” redirects here. ...

Section 2 renders the Crown liable as though it were a natural person for: In jurisprudence, a natural person is a human being perceptible through the senses and subject to physical laws, as opposed to an artificial person, i. ...

• Torts committed by its servants and agents;
• Common law duties of an employer to its servants and agents; and
• Common law duties as an owner or occupier of property.

S.2(2) provides that the Crown is liable for breach of statutory duty so long as the statute binds both the Crown and private persons. Tort is a legal term that means a civil wrong, as opposed to a criminal wrong, that is recognized by law as grounds for a lawsuit. ... British labour law is that body of law which regulates the rights, restrictions obligations of trade unions, workers and employers in Britain. ...

Section 28 gave the courts, for the first time, the power to order disclosure of documents by the Crown and require the Crown to answer requests for further information. This new power is subject to important qualifications in s.28(2) including the proviso that the Crown can resist disclosure where this could be “injurious to the public interest”. This reasserted the traditional doctrine of Crown privilege but also made the issue justiciable, ultimately giving rise to the doctrine of Public Interest Immunity. In law, discovery is the pre-trial phase in a lawsuit in which each party through the law of civil procedure can request documents and other evidence from other parties or can compel the production of evidence by using a subpoena or through other discovery devices, such as requests for... Public Interest Immunity (PII) is a principle of English common law under which the English courts can grant a court order allowing one litigant to refrain from disclosing evidence to the other litigants where disclosure would be damaging to the public interest. ...

References

1. ^ SI1947/2527, art.1
2. ^ ^{a b} Bradley & Ewing (2003) pp700-701

Bibliography

• Full text of the Act at the UK Statute Law Database
• Bradley, A.W. & Ewing, K.D. (2003). Constitutional and Administrative Law, 13th ed., London: Pearson. ISBN 0582438071.