ABSTRACT
On face value the question the question principally deals with the operation of Public Interest Immunity Certificates. Yet we can see from Figure 38 that the question has much wider implications than this. Whereas there was nothing new in the Crown making a claim to public interest immunity in a criminal trial, the fact that it was a criminal trial, where the greatest liberty (freedom of the
person) was under threat, made it all the more important that the defendant had access to all relevant information. Yet whereas the interests of the individual may necessitate access to information to adequately prepare a defence at an adversarial trial, this has to be balanced against the State’s claim to withhold sensitive information from the public domain in the interests of the State itself. The concern of the State is obviously heightened when issues of national security are at stake.
