Aspects of the law of abuse of process that are of interest to criminal lawyers are stated in Mueen-Uddin v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024] UKSC 21.
The case is of considerable interest to defamation lawyers too. The claim for defamation had been struck out, and this is a successful appeal against that striking out. Lord Reed delivered the judgment of the Court.
“40. The law in relation to abuse of process has developed in the manner characteristic of the common law. Relevant principles have emerged as the courts have considered the circumstances of cases in which the issue has arisen in different contexts. As Lord Diplock indicated in Hunter [1982] AC 529 at p 536, it would be unwise to confine the concept of an abuse of process to fixed categories. Nevertheless, a number of categories have become well established. Examples include the unfair or oppressive treatment of an accused, the rule in Henderson v Henderson (1843) 3 Hare 100 that requires a party to bring its whole case in a single set of proceedings, and the power to stay or dismiss proceedings which are frivolous or vexatious.”
This description of how the common law develops is reminiscent of that given by Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr, noted here on 12 February 2024 at footnote 3.
At [65] Lord Reed continued:
“65. As explained earlier, Lord Diplock’s description of abuse of process is of the misuse of the court’s procedure in a way which would be manifestly unfair to a party to litigation before it or would otherwise bring the administration of justice into disrepute among right-thinking people. The focus of the doctrine is on public confidence in the administration of justice rather than on the interests of a party, as Lord Diplock’s description implied (and as has been more fully explained in later cases such as City of Toronto, [2003] 3 SCR 67 cited in para 38 above), but the two are directly connected where the court’s procedure is being misused in a manner which is manifestly unfair.”
This case is about access to the courts and when prevention of that access is an abuse of process. Another context for the law against abuse of process, more familiar in criminal cases, is abuse that may arise from the continuation of proceedings. Common to cases of access and cases of continuation are the concepts of fairness and of prevention of disrepute to the administration of justice.
