LEGAL

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The

answered for the purpose of doing justice in the case.

does, then the court will, if the witness so requests, allow him

to write down the name, or whatever it is, and that piece of

paper will be shown only to those who need to see it, that is the judge or magistrate, the jury (if there is one) and counsel.

court can direct that the person whose name is written on the

paper shall thereafter be referred to as 'Mr. X', and that

nothing shall be said in court which might reveal his identity. This is a well-tried procedure which works well, even where it is the witness himself who seeks anonymity, for example the victim

of blackmail or a prosecution witness who fears reprisals from

the defendant's friends.

Legal effects of deleting restriction to 'local newspaper'

10.

Reference has also been made to the amendment standing

in the Chief Secretary's name which would delete the reference in

the proposed new section 27

to

local newspapers' «

j. 12 salt

that this will greatly extend the scope of the section.

11.

In practice the amendment will be of limited

significance.

It is of course correct, as has been said,

that

the removal of the restriction to newspapers extends the clause to other forms of publication. In the case of the broadcasting media this in practice adds little or nothing to the controls to which they are already subject. So far as anything else is

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