LORD MANCE: (with whom Lord Neuberger, Lady Hale and Lord Reed agree) Introduction 1. The interim injunction the subject of this application has attracted much attention. Whatever the decision of the Supreme Court, it will probably give rise to further, entirely legitimate, debate on the value of such injunctions in the internet age. But the majority of this Court has concluded that, in the light of legal principles that were effectively uncontroversial and for reasons more particularly summarised in paras 44 to 45 below, the application for permission to appeal should be granted and the interim injunction continued until trial or further order. The ground on which the Court acts is to preserve the privacy interests of the appellant, his partner and their young children in England and Wales, pending a trial. Without the injunction, there will be further unrestricted and extensive coverage in hard copy as well as other media in England and Wales, and the purpose of any trial will be largely undermined. On the basis of the case law, the fact that there has been significant internet and social media coverage (and limited hard copy publication outside the jurisdiction) which already invades the privacy of the appellant and his family is not decisive. News Group Newspapers Ltd’s (“NGN’s”) purpose in applying to set aside the interim injunction is to add extensively and in a qualitatively different medium to such invasions, without, on present evidence, having any arguably legitimate basis for this and at the risk only of having to pay damages after a trial. 2. Some may still question whether the case merits the weight of legal attention which it has received. But the law is there to protect the legitimate interests of those whose conduct may appear unappealing, as well as of children with no responsibility for such conduct. The Supreme Court must in any event apply the law as it has been laid down by Parliament, paying due regard to the case law which Parliament has required it to take account. The Court must do so in the present case in relation to what, on present evidence, appears to be a clearly unjustified proposed further invasion of the relevant privacy interests - one which is unsupported by any countervailing public interest in a legal sense, however absorbing it might be to members of the public interested in stories about others’ private sexual encounters. At trial, it will be open to the respondents to seek to show some genuine public interest in publication. But none has been shown to date, and, pending trial, the point of any trial should not be prejudged or rendered irrelevant by unrestricted disclosure. 3. The Court is well aware of the lesson which King Canute gave his courtiers. Unlike Canute, the courts can take steps to enforce its injunction pending trial. As Page 2