03/02/2020
Heythrop Zoological Gardens Ltd (t/a Amazing Animals) & Anor v Captive Animals Protection Society [2016] EWHC 1370 (Ch) (20 May 2016)
"19. There is, as all members of the Supreme Court conclude, a clear error of law in the
Court of Appeal's reasoning in relation to section 12. For reasons given in para 20 below, it
consists in the self-direction that section 12 'enhances the weight which article 10 rights
carry in the balancing exercise' (para 40). The Court of Appeal's further self-direction, that
section 12 'raises the hurdle which the claimant must overcome in order to obtain an
interim injunction' is unexceptionable, in so far as section 12 replaces the general
American Cyanamid test, focused on the balance of convenience, with a test of whether the
appellant is 'likely to establish that publication should not be allowed' at trial. The position
was stated more particularly by Lord Nichols in Cream Holdings v Banerjee [2004] UKHL
44, para 22:
[…]
20. The Court of Appeal's initial self-direction is however contrary to considerable
authority, including authority at the highest level, which establishes that, even at the
interlocutory stage, (i) neither article has preference over the other, (ii) where their values
are in conflict, what is necessary is an intense focus on the comparative importance of the
rights being claimed in the individual case, (iii) the justifications for interfering with or
restricting each right must be taken into account and (iv) the proportionality test must be
applied: see eg In Re S (A Child) (Identification: Restrictions on Publication) [2004]
UKHL 47; [2005] 1 AC 593, para 17, per Lord Steyn, with whom all other members of the
House agreed; McKennitt v Ash [2006] EWCA Civ 1714; [2008] QB 73, para 47, per
Buxton LJ, with whom the other members of the Court agreed; and Mosley v News Group
Newspapers Ltd [2008] EWHC 687 (QB), para 28, per Eady J, describing this as a "very
well established" methodology. The exercise of balancing article 8 and article 10 rights has
been described as "analogous to the exercise of a discretion": AAA v Associated
Newspapers Ltd [2013] EWCA Civ 554, para 8). While that is at best only an analogy, the
exercise is certainly one which, if undertaken on a correct basis, will not readily attract
appellate intervention. The Court of Appeal's error in its initial self-direction is, however,
one of potential significance, since it necessarily affects the balance. By itself it would
require the Supreme Court to re-exercise the discretion which the Court of Appeal
exercised in setting aside the injunction which it had previously granted. But there are
further aspects of the Court of Appeal's treatment of the issues which together lead to the
same conclusion."
55. Paragraph 19 deals with the point that s.12 can be said to raise the hurdle which the claimant must
overcome to obtain an interim injunction to something higher than the American Cyanamid test and
approves the Court of Appeal's way of putting that. Ultimately paragraph 20 is a summary of the right
approach and it is the approach I propose to follow.
56. Balancing the privacy rights of celebrities and freedom of speech rights presents a particular set of
problems which are some way from the facts of the case before me. In my judgment what PJS does
show is that CAPS's submission that one can simply characterise an interim injunction claim which
relies on other causes of action apart from defamation as merely an attempt to circumvent a clear
Bonnard v. Perryman principle and stop there, cannot be a complete statement of the position. The
correct approach must be based on s.12 and Cream Holdings. That involves identifying the nature of
the rights relied on by the claimant in support of its claim for an interim injunction and carrying out the
required balancing exercise. It does not add much to the analysis to seek to answer the question
whether the claim is an attempt to circumvent a rule in defamation. I do not mean to suggest that I
doubt that the outcome reached in cases which did not involve privacy like Service Corporation,
Tillery Valley and Viagogo.
The balance of rights in this case
57. The claimants have property and economic rights. They are protected not by Art.8, but the property
rights are protected expressly by Art 1 of Protocol 1 of the convention. It is somewhat ironic that the
performance rights in this case can be referred to as "non-property" rights as distinct from the
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