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Categories: United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1911

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The Official Secrets Act 1911

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title:	An Act to re-enact the Official Secrets Act 1889 with Amendments.
Statute book chapter:	1 & 2 Geo. 5 c. 28
Dates
Date of Royal Assent:	22 August 1911
Commencement:	22 August 1911
Status: Unknown
Text of statute as originally enacted
Official text of the statute as amended and in force today within the United Kingdom, from the UK Statute Law Database
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The Official Secrets Act 1911 (1 & 2 Geo. 5 c. 28) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

The Act applies in the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, and in overseas crown territories and colonies. It also applies to British subjects anywhere else in the world.

1 Section 1 - Penalties for spying
- 1.1 Sentence
2 Section 2
3 Section 7 - Penalty for harbouring spies
4 Section 8
5 Section 9 - Search warrants
6 European Communities Act 1972
7 See also
8 References
9 External links

Section 1 - Penalties for spying

This section is very broadly drafted, and if spying is proved by the prosecution then the section specifically puts the burden of proof on the defendant to show that he/she acted with innocent motives.

"Enemy"

The expression "enemy" includes a potential enemy.^[1]

Sentence

A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years.^[2]

Examples

George Blake was sentenced to imprisonment for a term of 42 years after pleading guilty to five counts of unlawfully disclosing information contrary to section 1(1)(c) in 1961. Geoffrey Prime was sentenced to imprisonment for a total of 35 years for disclosing material while employed at GCHQ.^[3] Michael Bettany was sentenced to imprisonment for a total of 23 years.

Section 2

This section was repealed ^[4] for the United Kingdom^[5] on ... . It has been replaced by the Official Secrets Act 1989.

Cases under this section

R v. Aitken (1971) Unreported, Crown Ct.^[6]
R v. Tisdall (1984) The Times, 26 March 1984
R v. Ponting (1985)

Command papers on this section

Departmental Committee on Section 2 of the Official Secrets Act 1911 (Cmnd. 5104) (1972) - the Franks Committee.
Reform of Section 2 of the Official Secrets Act 1911 (Cmnd. 7285) (1978)
Reform of Section 2 of the Official Secrets Act 1911 (Cm. 408) (June 1988)

Section 7 - Penalty for harbouring spies

A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or on summary conviction to ... .^[7]

Section 8

This section provides that a prosecution for an offence under this Act may only be instituted by, or with the consent of, the Attorney General.

Section 9 - Search warrants

Very unusually, this section gives senior police officers (of the rank superintendent) the power to issue a search warrant in an emergency, if there is no time to obtain one from a judge.

European Communities Act 1972

Section 11(2) of the European Communities Act 1972 must be construed and the Official Secrets Act 1911 to 1939 have effect, as if thar section were contained in this Act but so that sections 10 and 11, except section 10(4), do not apply.^[8]

References

Halsbury's Statutes,

^ R v. Parrott (1913) 8 Cr.App.Rep. 186
^ The Official Secrets Act 1920, section 8(1); the Criminal Justice Act 1948, section 1(1)
^ R v. Prime (1983) 5 Cr.App.Rep. 127
^ The Official Secrets Act 1989, section 16(4) and Schedule 2
^ The Official Secrets Act 1989, section 15(2)
^ For an account of the trial, see Aitken, J., Officially Secret, 1971, London, Weidenfield and Nicholson
^ The Official Secrets Act 1920, section 8(2); the Criminal Justice Act 1948, section 1(2)
^ The European Communities Act 1972, section 11(2), final paragraph.

External links

Official text of the Official Secrets Act 1911 as amended and in force today within the United Kingdom, from the UK Statute Law Database
The Official Secrets Act 1911, as amended, from the Office of Public Sector Information.

United Kingdom legislation

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Secondary legislation	United Kingdom Statutory Instruments · Scottish Statutory Instruments · Act of Sederunt

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