Dear Bryan,
This is the result of my research on Home Office Warrants aka Home
Secretary?s Warrants, aka Secretary of State?s warrants, but do ask
for clarification or expansion of any it. I?m not sure whether you
want more of the 1844 case.
As is often typical with us Brits, until the recent 20 years we seem
to have muddled along when it came to setting out clearly the powers
and legality of telephone tapping. Telephone interception was not put
on a statutory basis until 1985.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200506/ldselect/ldliaisn/29/2905.htm
The history of the authority of the State to intercept letters, and
later telephones, is obscure and the earliest record is in the 17th
century. In 1957, the Government issued a ?Report of the Committee of
Privy Councillors appointed to inquire into the interception of
communications?. Part 1 of this report sets out in great detail the
history of the inception of communications and the Home Secretary?s
powers (or lack of them if you wish to argue it). I have been unable
to find an example of a Home Office Warrant (but I wonder if it is
merely a formal letter signed by a Home Secretary authorising certain
persons to do a certain thing over a certain period).
http://fipr.org/rip/Birkett.htm
You will note reference is made to the case of Joseph Mazzini in 1844
and a furore over letter interception. The case is referred to here.
Also there are extensive reports in the Times in 1844 which discuss
this case and I can give you the details if you wish to view them at
your library.
?Report from the Secret Committee of the House of Lords relative to
the Post Office?
http://www.bopcris.ac.uk/bopall/ref5109.html
This is his biography.
http://www.nndb.com/people/665/000092389/
This is extract from the 1911 Encyclopaedia which contains additional
information on Warrants. You may wish to read all of the section on
Royal Warrants.
?The right of a secretary of state or the lord-lieutenant in Ireland
by express warrant in writing to detain or open letters in the post
office was recognized by orders in council and proclamations in the
17th century and by various post office acts, and is retained in the
Post Office Act 1836 (s. 25). The right was challenged, but was
finally established by the reports of committees of both Houses
appointed in 1844 on a complaint by Mazzini and others that Sir James
Graham, then home secretary, had opened their letters. It was
exercised as recently as 1881 over the letters of persons suspected of
treasonable correspondence in Ireland.?
http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/VIR_WAT/WARRANT_Med_Lat_warantum_O_Fr_g.html
Finally, this brief extract from a question in Parliament may be of interest.
The Times, 10 December, 1937
?Calls
Lieut.Com Fletcher (Nuneaton Lab.)
Asked the Home Secretary since what date his warrant had been required
to enable police or other Government authorities to listen-in to
private telephone conversations; and to what was the practice prior to
that date.
Sir S. Hoare. It has always been the rule that listening-in to a
private telephone conversation without prior knowledge of either party
should not be authorized except in special circumstances. There is no
legal requirement as to the form in which authority should be given by
the Secretary of State for this purpose, but in practice, if this
authority is give, it takes the form on a warrant under the hand of
the Secretary of State.
I hope this answers your question. If it does not, or the answer is
unclear, then please ask for clarification of this research before
rating the answer. I shall respond to the clarification request as
soon as I receive it.
Thank you
answerfinder |
