ABSTRACT
The 1911 Act The first Official Secrets Act arrived on the statute book in 1889. The latest Act is that of 1989. The 1911 Act – which survived virtually untouched until 1989 – was passed through parliament with one hour’s debate and within 24 hours. Motivation for the 1911 Act lay in alleged enemy agent activity in the country.80 The motives behind the 1989 Act were formed largely from the failure of the earlier Act. As will be seen, section 2 of the Act provided for numerous offences based on vague criteria of disclosure of information and juries have on occasion refused to convict, even where it was clear from the facts and the law that a guilty verdict should have been returned.81 Official inquiries into the working of the Act revealed deficiencies.82
