ABSTRACT
The Official Secrets Act and the D-Notice system have a very close connection, and the history of the D-Notice system in England shows that the D-Notice system was designed to complement the workings of the Act. D-Notices could be used to clarify the meaning of the Act and to prevent revelations that were not strictly speaking within the ambit of the Act. This chapter outlines the relevant sections of the Official Secrets Act 1911 and discusses the effect of these sections. It then examines in detail the use from the late 1960s of the Act in relation to sensitive information of the general kind protected by the D-Notice system. The chapter provides the cases that have been selected either because they have a direct connection with the enforcement of the D-Notice system, or because they involve the media in some way, or because they illustrate a milestone in the judicial interpretation of the Act relevant to the issues at hand.
