OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT, 1911

OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT, 1911

6.-OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT9 1911.

1 & 2 Geo. V, c 28.

An Act to re-enact the Official Secrets Act, 1889, with Amendments.

[22nd August, 1911.]

L-(1) If any person for any purpose prejudicial to the safety or
interests of the State
(a) approaches or is in the neighbourhood of, or enters any pro-
hibited place within the meaning of this Act; or
(b), makes any sketch, plan, model, or note which is calculated to be
or might be or is intended to be directly or indirectly useful to an
enemy ; or
(c) obtains or communicates to any other person any sketch, plan,
model, article, or note, or other document or information which is





calculated to be or might be or is intended to be directly or indirectly
useful to an enemy;
he shall be guilty of felony, and shall be liable to penal servitude for
any term not less than 3 years and not exceeding 7 years.
(2) On a prosecution under this section, it shall not be necessary
to show that the accused person was guilty of any particular act tending
to show a 'purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the State,
and, notwithstanding that no such act is proved against him, he may
be convicted if, from the circumstances of the case, or his conduct, or
his known character as proved, it appears that his purpose was a
purpose prejudicial to the safet), ot. interests of the State; and if any
sketch, plan, model, article, note, document, or information relating to
or used in anY prohibited place within the meaning of this Act, or
anything in such a place, is made, obtained, or communicated by any
person other than a person acting tinder lan-ful authority, it shall be
deemed to have been made, obtained, or communicated for a pyrpose
prejudicial to the safety or interests of the State unless the contrary
is proved.

2.-(1) If any person having in his possession or control any sketch,
plan, model, article, note, document, or information which relates to
or is used in a prohibited place or anything in such a place, or which
has been made or obtained in contravention of this Act, or which has
been entrusted in confidence to him by any person holding.office under
His Majesty or which he has obtained owing to his position as a person
who holds or has held office under His Majesty, or as a person who
holds or has held a contract made on behalf of His Majesty, or as a
person who is or has been employed under a person who holds or has
held such an office or contract,-
(a) communicates the sketch, plan, model, article, note, document,
or information to any person, other than a person to whom he is atithoris-
ed to communicate it, or a person. to whom it is in the interest of the
State his duty to communicate it, or
(b) retains the sketch, plan, model, article, note, or document in his
possession or control when he has no right to retain it or when it is
contrary to, his duty to retain it :
that person shall be guilty of a misdemeanour.
(2) If any person receives any sketch, plan, model, article, note,
document, or information, knowing, or having reasonable ground to
believe, at the time when he receives it, that the sketch, plan, model,
article, note, document, or information is communicated to him in
contravention of this Act, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanour, unless
he proves that the communication to him of the sketch, plan, model,
article, note, document, or information was contrary to his desire.





(3) A person guilty of a misdemeanour under this section shall be
liable to imprisonment with or without hard labour for a term not
exceeding 2 years, or to a fine, or to both imprisonment and a fine.

3. For the purposes of this Act, the expression 'prohibited place'
means-
(a) any work of defence, arsenal, factory, dockyard, camp, ship,
telegraph or signal station, or office belonging to His Majesty, and any
other place belonging to His Majesty used for the purpose of building,
repairing, making, or storing any ship, arms, or other materials or
instruments of use in time of war, or any plans or documents relating
thereto; and
(b) any place not belonging to His Majesty where any ship, arms,
or other materials or instruments of use in time of war, or any plans
or documents relating thereto, are being made, repaired, or stored
under contract with, or with any person ort behalf of, His Majesty, or
otherwise on behalf of His Majesty; and
(c) any place belonging to His Majesty which is for the time being
declared by a Secretary of State to be a prohibited place for the purposes
of this section on the ground that information with respect thereto, or
damage thereto, would be useful to an enenemy; and
(d) any railway, road, way, or channel, or other means of cmmunica-
tion by land or water (including any works or structures being part
thereof or connected therewith), or any place used for gas, water, or
electricity works or other works for purposes of a public character, or
any place where any ship, arms, or other materials or instrunients of
use in time of war, or any plans or documents relating thereto, are
being made, repaired, or stored otherwise than on behalf of His Majesty,
which is for the time being declared by a Secretary of State to be a
prohibited place for the purposes of this section, on the ground that
information with -respect thereto, or the destruction or obstruction
thereof, or interference therewith, would be useful to an enemy.

4. Any person who attempts to commit any offence under this Act
or incites, or counsels, or attempts to procure another person to commit
an offence under this Act, shall be guilty of felony or of a misdemeanour
according as the offence in question is felony or misdemeanour, and
on conviction shall be liable to the same punishment, and to be proceed-
ed against in the same manner, as if he had committed the offence.

5. Any person charged with an offence which is a felony under this
Act may, if the circumstances warrant such a finding, be found guilty,
of an offence which is a misdemeanour under this Act.





6. Any person who is found committing an offence under this Act,
whether that offence is a felony or not, or who is reasonably suspected
of having committed, or having attenipted to commit, or being about
to commit, such an offence, may be apprehended and detained in the
same manner as a person who is found committing a felony.

7. If any person knowingly harbours any person whom he knows,
or has reasonable grounds for supposing, to be a person who is about
to commit or who has committed an offence under this Act, or knowing-
ly permits to meet or assei-able in any premises in his occupation or
under his control any such persons, or if any person having harboured
any such person, or permitted to meet or assemble in any premises in
his occupation or under his control any such persons, wilfully refuses
to disclose to a superintendent of police any information which. it is
in his power to give in relation to any such person he shall be guilty
of a misdeineanour and liable to imprisonment with or without hard
labour for a term not exceeding one year, or to a fine, or to both
imprisonment and a fine.
8. A prosecution for an offence under this Act shall not be instituted
except by or with the consent of the Attorney General :
Provided that a person charged with such an offence may be arrested,
or a warrant for his arrest may be issued and executed, and any such
person may be remanded in custody or on bail, notwithstanding that
the consent of the Attorney General to the institution of a prosecution
for the offence has not been obtained, but no further or other proceed-
ings shall be taken until that consent has been obtained.
9.-(1) If a justice of the peace is satisfied by information on oath
that there is reasonable -round for suspecting that an offence under
this Act has been or is about to be committed, he may grant a search
warrant authorising any constable named therein to enter at any time
any premises or place natned in the warrant, if necessary, by force, and
to search the premises or place and every person found therein,
and to seize any sketch, plan, model, article, note, or document, or
anything of a like nature ' or anything which is evidence of an offence
under this Act having been or being about to be committed, which
he may find on the premises or place or on any such person, and with.
regard to or in connexion with which lie has reasonable. ground for
suspecting that an offence under this Act has been or is about to be
committed.
.(2) Where it appears to a superintendent of police that the case is
one of great emergency and that in the interest of the State immediate
action is necessary, he may by a written order under his hand give to
any constable the like authority as may be given by the warrant of a
justice under this section.





10.-(1) This Act shall apply to all acts which are offences under
this Act when committed in any part of His Majesty's dominions, or
when committed by British officers or subjects elsewhere.
(2) An offence under this Act, if alleged to have been committed out
of the United Kingdom, may be inquired of, heard, and determined, in
any competent British court in the place where the offence was commit-
ted, or in the High Court in England or the Central Crimianl Court, and
the Criminal Jurisdiction Act, 1802, shall apply in like manner as if
the offence were mentioned in that Act, and the Central Criminal Court
as well as the High Court possessed the jurisdiction given by that Act
to the Court of King's Bench.
(3) An offence under this Act shall not be tried by any court of
general or quarter sessions, nor by the sheriff court in Scotland, nor
by any court out of the United Kingdom which has not jurisdiction
to try crimes which involve the greatest punishment allowed by law.
(4) The provisions Of the Criminal Law and Procedure (Ireland) Act,
1887, shall not apply to any trial under the provisions of this Act.
11. If 'by any law made before or after the passing of this Act by the
legislature of an)- British possession provisions are made which appear
to His Majesty to be of the like effect as those contained in this Act, His
Majesty may, by Order in Council, suspend the operation within that
British possession of this Act, or of any part thereof, so long as that law
continues in force there, and no longer, and the Order shall have effect
as if it were enacted in this Act:
Provided that the suspension of this Act, or of any part thereof, in
any British possession shall not extend to the holder oi an office under
His Majesty who is not appointed to that oflice by the Government of
that possession.
12. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-
Any reference to a place belonging to His Majesty includes a place
belonging to any department of the Government of the United Kingdom
or of any British possessions, whether the place is or is not actually
vested in His Majesty;
The expression ' Attorney General ' means the Attorney or Solicitor
General for England; and as respects Scotland, means the Lord
Advocate; and as respects Ireland, means the Attorney or Solicitor
General for Ireland ; and, if the prosecution is instituted in any court
out of the United Kingdom, means the person who in that court is
Attorney General, or exercises the like functions as the Attorney General
in England;
Expressions referring to communicating or receiving include any
communicating or receiving, whether in whole or in part, and whether
the sketch, plan, model, article, note, document, or information itself or





the substance, effect, or description thereof only be communicated or
received ; expressions referring to obtaining or retaining any sketch,
plan, model, article, note, or document, include the copying or causing
to be copied the whole or any part of any sketch, plan, model, article,
note, or document; and expressions referring to the communication of
any sketch, plan, model, article, note or document include the transfer
or transmission of the sketch, plan, model, article, note or document
The expression ' document ' includes part of a document;
The expression ' model ' includes design, pattern, and specimen
The expression ' sketch ' includes any photograph or other mode of
representing any place or thing;
The expression ' superintendent of police ' includes any police officer
of a like or superior rank;
The expression ' office under his Majesty ' includes any office or
employment in or tinder any department of the Government of the
United Kingdoni, or of any British possession
The. expression ' offence tinder this Act ' includes any act, omission,
or other thing which is punishable under this Act.

13.-(1) This Act may be cited as the Official Secrets Act, 1911.
(2) The Official Secrets Act, 1889, is hereby repealed.
Penalties for applying. Wrongful communication, &c., of information. Definition of prohibited place. Attempts to commit offence, or incitement to commit offences, under Act. Person charged with felony under Act, may be convicted of misdemeanour under Act. Power of arrest. Penalty for harbouring spies. Restriction on prosecution. Search warrants. Extent of Act and place of trial of offence. 42 Geo, 3, c.85. 50 & 51 Vict. C. 20. Saving for laws of British possessions. Interpretation. Short title and repeal. 52 & 53 Vict. C. 52.

Penalties for applying. Wrongful communication, &c., of information. Definition of prohibited place. Attempts to commit offence, or incitement to commit offences, under Act. Person charged with felony under Act, may be convicted of misdemeanour under Act. Power of arrest. Penalty for harbouring spies. Restriction on prosecution. Search warrants. Extent of Act and place of trial of offence. 42 Geo, 3, c.85. 50 & 51 Vict. C. 20. Saving for laws of British possessions. Interpretation. Short title and repeal. 52 & 53 Vict. C. 52.

https://oelawhk.lib.hku.hk/items/show/1040

1912

v3

6