R v Secretary of State for Transport ex p Factortame Ltd (Interim Relief Order) [1990] UKHL 7

House of Lords
Between
RAppellantSecretary of State for Transport ex p Factortame Ltd (Interim Relief Order)Respondent
Upon Further Report from the Appellate Committee to whom was referred the Cause Secretary of State for Transport against Factortame Limited and others, That the Committee had heard Counsel on Monday the 17th, Tuesday the 18th, Wednesday the 19th, Thursday the 20th, Monday the 24th, Tuesday the 25th, Wednesday the 26th and Thursday the 27th days of April 1989, upon the Petition and Appeal of Factortame Limited and others praying that the matter of the Orders set forth in the Schedule thereto, namely Orders of Her Majesty's Court of Appeal of the 16th and the 22nd days of March 1989, might be reviewed before Her Majesty the Queen in Her Court of Parliament and that the said Orders might be reversed, varied or altered or that the Petitioners might have such other relief in the premises as to Her Majesty the Queen in Her Court of Parliament might seem meet; as upon the case of the Secretary of State for Transport lodged in answer to the said Appeal; That by an Order of this House of the 18th day of May 1989 the following questions were referred to the Court of Justice of the European Communities for a preliminary ruling under Article 177 of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community:1. "Where - (i) a party before the national court claims to be entitled to rights under Community law having direct effect in national law ("the rights claimed") ,(ii) a national measure in clear terms will, if applied, automatically deprive that party of the rights claimed,(iii) there are serious arguments both for and against the existence of the rights claimed and the national court has sought a preliminary ruling under Article 177 as to whether or not the rights claimed exist,(iv) the national law presumes the national measure in question to be compatible with Community law unless and until it is declared incompatible,(v) the national court has no power to give interim protection to the rights claimed by suspending the application of the national measure pending the preliminary ruling,

Oral Judgment: 26.7.90 Reasons: 11.10.90

HOUSE OF LORDS

REGINA

SECRETARY OF STATE FOR TRANSPORT (RESPONDENT)

ex parte

FACTORTAME LIMITED AND OTHERS (APPELLANTS)

Lord Bridge of Harwich Lord Brandon of Oakbrook Lord Oliver of Aylmerton Lord Goff of Chieveley Lord Jauncey of Tullichettle

LORD BRIDGE OF HARWICH

My Lords,When this appeal first came before the House last year [1990] 2 AC 85 your Lordships held that, as a matter of English law, the courts had no jurisdiction to grant interim relief in terms which would involve either overturning an English statute in advance of any decision by the European Court of Justice that the statute infringed Community law or granting an injunction against the Crown. It then became necessary to seek a preliminary ruling from the European Court of Justice as to whether Community law itself invested us with such jurisdiction. In the speech I delivered on that occasion, with which your Lordships agreed, I explained the reasons which led us to those conclusions. It will be remembered that, on that occasion, the House never directed its attention to the question how, if there were jurisdiction to grant the relief sought, discretion ought to be exercised in deciding whether or not relief should be granted.In June of this year we received the judgment of the European Court of Justice (Case C-213/89) replying to the questions we had posed and affirming that we had jurisdiction, in the circumstances postulated, to grant interim relief for the protection of directly enforceable rights under Community law and that no limitation on our jurisdiction imposed by any rule of national law could stand as the sole obstacle to preclude the grant of such relief. In the light of this judgment we were able to conclude the hearing of the appeal in July and unanimously decided that relief should be granted in terms of the orders which the House then made, indicating that we would give our reasons for the decision later.My noble and learned friend Lord Goff of Chieveley, whose speech I have had the advantage of reading in draft, has given a very full account of all the relevant circumstances arising since our decision last year in the light of which our final disposal of the appeal fell to be made. I gratefully adopt this account. I also agree with his exposition of the principles applicable in relation to the grant of interim injunctive relief where the dispute involves a conflict between private and public interests and where damages are not a remedy available to either party, leading, in the circumstances of this case, to the conclusion that it was appropriate to grant relief in terms of the orders made by the House. But I add some observations of my own in view of the importance of the subject matter.Some public comments on the decision of the European Court of Justice, affirming the jurisdiction of the courts of member states to override national legislation if necessary to enable interim relief to be granted in protection of rights under Community law, have suggested that this was a novel and dangerous invasion by a Community institution of the sovereignty of the United Kingdom Parliament. But such comments are based on a misconception. If the supremacy within the European Community of Community law over the national law of member states was not always inherent in the E.E.C. Treaty (Cmnd. 5179- II) it was certainly well established in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice long before the United Kingdom joined the Community. Thus, whatever limitation of its sovereignty Parliament accepted when it enacted the European Communities Act 1972 was entirely voluntary. Under the terms of the Act of 1972 it has always been clear that it was the duty of a United Kingdom court, when delivering final judgment, to override any rule of national law found to be in conflict with any directly enforceable rule of Community law. Similarly, when decisions of the European Court of Justice have exposed areas of United Kingdom statute law which failed to implement Council directives, Parliament has always loyally accepted the obligation to make appropriate and prompt amendments. Thus there is nothing in any way novel in according supremacy to rules of Community law in those areas to which they apply and to insist that, in the protection of rights under Community law, national courts must not be inhibited by rules of national law from granting interim relief in appropriate cases is no more than a logical recognition of that supremacy.Although affirming our jurisdiction, the judgment of the European Court of Justice does not fetter our discretion to determine whether an appropriate case for the grant of interim relief has been made out. While agreeing with Lord Goff's exposition of the general principles by which the discretion should be guided, I would wish to emphasise the salient features of the present case which, at the end of the argument, left me in no doubt that interim relief should be granted. A decision to grant or withold interim relief in the protection of disputed rights at a time when the merits of the dispute cannot be finally resolved must always involve an element of risk. If, in the end, the claimant succeeds in a case where interim relief has been refused, he will have suffered an injustice. If, in the end, he fails in a case where interim relief has been granted, injustice will have been done to the other party. The objective which underlies the

- 2 -

principles by which the discretion is to be guided must always be to ensure that the court shall choose the course which, in all the circumstances, appears to offer the best prospect that eventual injustice will be avoided or minimised. Questions as to the adequacy of an alternative remedy in damages to the party claiming injunctive relief and of a cross-undertaking in damages to the party against whom the relief is sought play a primary role in assisting the court to determine which course offers the best prospect that injustice may be avoided or minimised. But where, as here, no alternative remedy will be available to either party if the final decision does not accord with the interim decision, choosing the course which will minimise the risk presents exceptional difficulty.If the applicants were to succeed after a refusal of interim relief, the irreparable damage they would have suffered would be very great. That is now beyond dispute. On the other hand, if they failed after a grant of interim relief, there would have been a substantial detriment to the public interest resulting from the diversion of a very significant part of the British quota of controlled stocks of fish from those who ought in law to enjoy it to others having no right to it. In either case, if the final decision did not accord with the interim decision, there would have been an undoubted injustice. But the injustices are so different in kind that I find it very difficult to weigh the one against the other.If the matter rested there, I should be inclined to say, for the reasons indicated by Lord Goff of Chieveley, that the public interest should prevail and interim relief be refused. But the matter does not rest there. Unlike the ordinary case in which the court must decide whether or not to grant interlocutory relief at a time when disputed issues of fact remain unresolved, here the relevant facts are all ascertained and the only unresolved issues are issues of law, albeit of Community law. Now, although the final decision of such issues is the exclusive prerogative of the European Court of Justice, that does not mean that an English court may not reach an informed opinion as to how such issues are likely to be resolved. In this case we are now in a position to derive much assistance in that task from the decisions of the European Court of Justice in Reg. v. Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Ex parte Agegate Ltd. (Case C-3/87) [1990] 3 W.L.R. 226 and Reg. v. Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Ex parte Jaderow Ltd. (Case C-216/87) [1990] 3 W.L.R. 265 and the interim decision of the President in the proceedings brought by the European Commission against the United Kingdom (Commission of the European Communities v. United Kingdom (Case 246/89 R)) to which Lord Goff of Chieveley has referred. In the circumstances I believe that the most logical course in seeking a decision least likely to occasion injustice is to make the best prediction we can of the final outcome and to give to that prediction decisive weight in resolving the interlocutory issue.It is now, I think, common ground that the quota system operated under the common fisheries policy, in order to be effective and to ensure that the quota of a member state enures to the benefit of its local fishing industry, entitles the member state to derogate from rights otherwise exerciseable under Community law to the extent necessary to ensure that only fishing

- 3 -

vessels having a genuine economic link with that industry may fish against its quota. The narrow ground on which the Secretary of State resists the applicants' claim is that the requirements of section 14 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1988 that at least 75 per cent. of the beneficial ownership of a British fishing vessel must be vested in persons resident and domiciled in the United Kingdom is necessary to ensure that the vessel has a genuine economic link with the British fishing industry. Before the decision of the European Court of Justice in Agegate that would have seemed to me a contention of some cogency. But in Agegate it was held that a licensing condition requiring 75 per cent. of the crew of a vessel fishing against the quota of a member state to be resident within the member state could not be justified on the ground that it was "irrelevant to the aim of the quota system" (p. 261). I confess that I find some difficulty in understanding the reasoning in the judgment which leads to this conclusion. But if a residence requirement relating to crew members cannot be justified as necessary to the maintenance of a genuine economic link with the local industry, it is difficult to see how residence or domicile requirements relating to beneficial owners could possibly fare any better.The broader contention on behalf of the Secretary of State that member states have an unfettered right to determine what ships may fly their flag raises more difficult issues. It would not be appropriate in the context of the present interlocutory decision to enter upon a detailed examination of the wide-ranging arguments bearing upon those issues. I believe the best indication that we have of the prospect of success of that contention is found in the interlocutory judgment of President Due in the case brought by the Commission against the United Kingdom. He concluded that the contention was of insufficient weight to preclude him from granting an interim order suspending the application of the nationality requirements of section 14 of the Act of 1988 to nationals of other member states. His reasoning persuaded me that we should reach the same conclusion in relation to the residence and domicile requirements.

LORD BRANDON OF OAKBROOK

My Lords,I have had the advantage of reading in draft the speech produced by my noble and learned friend, Lord Goff of Chieveley, and agree with it entirely.

LORD OLIVER OF AYLMERTON

My Lords,have had the advantage of reading in draft the speech of my noble and learned friend, Lord Goff of Chieveley. I agree with it and, for the reasons given by my noble friend, I, too, would allow this appeal.

- 4 -

LORD GOFF OF CHIEVELEY

My Lords,This appeal was last before your Lordships' House in May 1989. The subject matter of the proceedings is an application by the applicants for judicial review, challenging the legality of certain provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act 1988, and the Merchant Shipping (Registration of Fishing Vessels) Regulations 1988 (S.I. 1988 No. 1926), on the ground that they contravene provisions of European law. The matter came before a Divisional Court (Neill L.J. and Hodgson J.), who requested a preliminary ruling from the European Court of Justice under article 177 of the E.E.C. Treaty on the questions necessary to enable them finally to determine the application. They then made an order for interim relief in the form of an order that in the meanwhile Part II of the Act of 1988 and the Regulations be disapplied and the Secretary of State for Transport be restrained from enforcing the same in respect of any of the applicants and any vessel now owned (in whole or in part), managed, operated or chartered by any of them so as to enable registration of any such vessel under the Merchant Shipping Act 1894 and/or the Sea Fishing Boats (Scotland) Act 1886 to continue in being. The Court of Appeal allowed an appeal by the Secretary of State from the interim order of the Divisional Court. On appeal by the applicants to your Lordships' House [1990] 2 AC 85 , it was held by your Lordships that, as a matter of English law, the English courts had no power to make such an order as that made by the Divisional Court. My noble and learned friend, Lord Bridge of Harwich, said of the order for interim relief, at pp. 142-143
"Any such order, unlike any form of order for interim relief known to the law, would irreversibly determine in the applicants' favour for a period of some two years rights which are necessarily uncertain until the preliminary ruling of the E.C.J. has been given. If the applicants fail to establish the rights they claim before the E.C.J., the effect of the interim relief granted will be to have conferred upon them rights directly contrary to Parliament's sovereign will and correspondingly to have deprived British fishing vessels, as defined by Parliament, of the enjoyment of a substantial proportion of the United Kingdom quota of stocks of fish protected by the common fisheries policy. I am clearly of the opinion that, as a matter of English law, the court has no power to make an order which has these consequences."
Your Lordships' House further held that, in any event, there was no jurisdiction in English law to grant an interim injunction against the Crown; this provided an additional reason why the order made by the Divisional Court could not be supported. Your Lordships' House however sought the guidance of the European Court of Justice on the question whether, in a case such as the present, European law overrides English law. Accordingly the following questions were referred to the court:

- 5 -

"1. Where - (i) a party before the national court claims to be entitled to rights under Community law having direct effect in national law ('the rights claimed'), (ii) a national measure in clear terms will, if applied, automatically deprive that party of the rights claimed, (iii) there are serious arguments both for and against the existence of the rights claimed and the national court has sought a preliminary ruling under article 177 as to whether or not the rights claimed exist, (iv) the national law presumes the national measure in question to be compatible with Community law unless and until it is declared incompatible, (v) the national court has no power to give interim protection to the rights claimed by suspending the application of the national measure pending the preliminary ruling, (vi) if the preliminary ruling is in the event in favour of the rights claimed, the party entitled to those rights is likely to have suffered irremediable damage unless given such interim protection, does Community law either (a) oblige the national court to grant such interim protection of the rights claimed; or (b) give the court power to grant such interim protection of the rights claimed? 2. If question l(a) is answered in the negative and question 1(b) in the affirmative, what are the criteria to be applied in deciding whether or not to grant such interim protection of the rights claimed?"
On 19 June 1990, in answer to the questions so referred to it, the Court ruled as follows (Case C-213/89):
"Community law must be interpreted as meaning that a national court which, in a case before it concerning Community law, considers that the sole obstacle which precludes it from granting interim relief is a rule of national law must set aside that rule."
Following receipt of that ruling, the applicants returned to your Lordships' House on 25 June 1990 in order to pursue further their appeal from the decision of the Court of Appeal and to seek interim relief pending the determination by the European Court of Justice of the matters referred to it by the Divisional Court. However, for reasons which will appear, they sought interim relief in a form different from that ordered by the Divisional Court. On 9 July, shortly after the conclusion of the hearing, your Lordships announced the House's decision to grant interim relief, and an order was made by your Lordships for an interim injuction in the following terms:
"Pending final judgment or further order herein the Secretary of State whether by himself his servants or agents or otherwise howsoever be restrained from withholding or withdrawing registration in the register of british fishing vessels maintained by him pursuant to the Merchant Shipping (Registration of Fishing Vessels) Regulations 1988 in respect of any of the vessels specified in the first column of the schedule hereto by reason only of the following: (a) legal title or beneficial ownership of such vessel is vested in whole or in part in the person or persons listed against its name in the second column of the said schedule; and (b) (i) in the case of any natural person so listed, that person is

- 6 -

resident or domiciled in a member state of the European Economic Community other than the United Kingdom; or (ii) in the case of any company so listed, (aa) 25 per cent. or more of the shares or of any class of the shares of that company, or of any company owning shares in that company, are legally or beneficially owned by a person or persons resident or domiciled in a member state of the European Economic Community other than the United Kingdom or (bb) 25 per cent. or more of the directors of that company, or of any company holding shares in that company, are resident or domiciled in a member state of the European Economic Community other than the United Kingdom."Provision was made for liberty to apply. It was indicated that your Lordships would publish at a later date your reasons for granting such interim relief. I now set out the reasons which caused me to agree that such relief should be granted.When your Lordships decided to make the reference to the European Court of Justice in this matter in May 1989, my noble and learned friend Lord Bridge of Harwich delivered a speech with which the remainder of your Lordships, including myself, agreed. In his speech on that occasion, my noble and learned friend was concerned primarily with the jurisdiction of the English courts to grant an interim injunction in a case such as the present as a matter of English law. Even so, he gave a full account of the background to the present appeal (including a reference to, and extensive quotation from, the judgment of Neill L.J. in the Divisional Court, and in particular his account of the common fisheries policy); and his consideration of the question whether, as a matter of English law, the court had jurisdiction in the present case to grant interim relief inevitably touched upon the question which your Lordships now have to address in the light of the ruling of the European Court of Justice. In these circumstances, it would be repetitious if I once again set out the background to present appeal: I shall only do so to the extent necessary to set in their context certain decisions of the European Court of Justice. Furthermore I wish to stress that, in expressing my reasons why in my opinion your Lordships should grant interim relief, I have no intention of departing from anything contained in the speech of my noble and learned friend, with which I have expressed my complete agreement.The question which arose for consideration by your Lordships, following the ruling of the European Court of Justice, concerned the appropriateness of an order for an interim injuction in a case such as the present, which is concerned with a challenge to the lawfulness of an Act of Parliament as being incompatible with European law. This inevitably raised for consideration the principles to be applied in the case of an application for such an interim injunction, and in particular the extent to which the principles stated by your Lordships' House in American Cyanamid Co. v. Ethicon Ltd. [1975] AC 396 are applicable in such a case, a matter upon which my noble and learned friend made some observations in his speech upon the first hearing of the appeal. I have however to say at once that your Lordships were not concerned with the simple question whether to interfere with the exercise of discretion by the Divisional Court in favour of granting an injunction. This is for three reasons. First, after the

- 7 -

Divisional Court made its order, as I have already indicated, circumstances occurred which rendered an order in that form inappropriate. The purpose of the order was to continue in being the registration of the applicants' fishing vessels under the Act of 1894 and/or the Act of 1886. However, during the period which elapsed since the Divisional Court made its order, the register maintained under the Act of 1894 was closed. It was for this reason that the applicants sought an injunction in a different form, directed towards restraining the Secretary of State from withholding or withdrawing registration of their vessels in the register maintained under the Act of 1988 on certain grounds which, in the applicants' submission, were incompatible with European law - an injunction which your Lordships decided to grant. Second, important legal developments had taken place since the Divisional Court's order. Two judgments were delivered by the European Court of Justice concerning the validity of certain conditions imposed by the Secretary of State on the grant of licences to fishing vessels Reg. v. Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Ex parte Agegate Ltd. (Case C-3/87) [1990] 3 W.L.R. 226 and Reg. v. Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Ex parte Jaderow Ltd. (Case C-216/87) [1990] 3 W.L.R. 265, and an interim order was made by the President of the European Court of Justice, on an application by the European Commission, regarding certain nationality provisions in section 14 of the Act of 1988. The latter order was of particular relevance to the applicants' application for an interim injunction in the present case. Third, there had been certain factual developments since the last hearing before your Lordships, which were the subject of evidence. In these circumstances, it was inevitable that your Lordships' House should consider the applicants' application de novo, and that it should, for that purpose, consider in some depth the applicable principles.Before turning to those applicable principles, I shall briefly summarise the effect of the intervening decisions of the European Court and of its President. The present appeal is, of course, concerned with the question whether certain provisions of the Act of 1988 are compatible with European law. The same is true of the interim order of the President, but not of the two decisions of the court. Those decisions, which I shall refer to as the Agegate and Jaderow cases, were concerned with the validity of certain conditions imposed upon the grant of licences for British fishing vessels. They are not, therefore, of such direct relevance to the present appeal as the President's interim order. They have, however, some bearing upon the present appeal, and I think it desirable to refer to them; and I propose to set them in their context, even though this may involve some repetition of matters already recorded in the speech of my noble and learned friend, Lord Bridge of Harwich.Under the Sea Fish (Conservation) Act 1967, as subsequently amended, fishing vessels registered in the United Kingdom are required to have a licence. That Act was supplemented by certain legislation in 1983 - the British Fishing Boats Act 1983, and the British Fishing Boats Order (S.I. 1983 No. 482) and the Sea Fish Licensing Order (S.I. 1983 No. 1206) of the same year. This legislation was passed in an attempt to meet the situation created during the previous two or three years by the registration of Spanish fishing vessels as British fishing vessels, with a view to

- 8 -

acquiring the same rights to fish in Community waters as those to which British fishing vessels beneficially owned by British nationals were entitled. Such registration was perceived as having the effect of circumventing restrictions imposed on Spanish registered vessels under the reciprocal fishing agreement concluded by the European Community with Spain in 1980 (following the Hague resolution of 1976 (Council Regulation of 3 November 1976; Official Journal 1981 No. C 105/1), whereby certain member states of the Community extended their fishing limits in the Atlantic Ocean 200 miles from the coast); under the reciprocal fishing agreement of 1980, a limited number of Spanish fishing vessels were permitted to fish only for specified quantities of hake in specified waters of member states. It seems that the Spanish fishing vessels saw this as a substantial exclusion from fishing grounds in deep waters previously fished by them, and sought to circumvent the restriction by registering their vessels as British. It was in response to that move that the legislation of 1983 was introduced, under which a British registered fishing boat fishing within British fishing limits was required to have a crew consisting of at least 75 per cent. of European Community nationals.In January 1983, the system of national fish quotas was introduced by Council Regulations (E.E.C.) Nos. 170/83 and 172/83. The British authorities experienced difficulty in monitoring the catches of ex-Spanish registered vessels, and concern about their activities was being expressed by British fishermen, especially those based in the western parts of the United Kingdom. This concern was being expressed against a background of continued activity by British registered fishing vessels with a largely Spanish beneficial ownership operating under British registration but mainly from Spain and with only tenuous links with the United Kingdom, which were believed to be making substantial inroads into the fishing opportunities allocated to the United Kingdom under the common fisheries policy in the light of this country's traditional fishing activities.Accordingly, in December 1985, new licensing conditions for British fishing vessels were announced, taking effect as from 1 January 1986. These related to crewing, social security contributions and operations. The crewing conditions required that at least 75 per cent. of the crew must be British citizens, or E.E.C. nationals (excluding, subject to certain limited exceptions, Greek nationals until 1 January 1988, and Spanish or Portuguese nationals until 1 January 1993) ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands. The social security conditions required the skipper and all the crew to make contributions to United Kingdom national insurance, or equivalent Isle of Man or Channel Islands schemes. The operating conditions provided as follows:
"The vessel must operate from the United Kingdom, Isle of Man or Channel Islands; without prejudice to the generality of this requirement a vessel will be deemed to have been so operating if, for each six-months period in each calendar year (i.e. January to June and July to December) either: (a) at least 50 per cent. by weight of the vessel's landings or trans-shipment of stocks to which this or any other licence in force at the relevant time relates have been landed and sold in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man or the

- 9 -

Channel Islands or trans-shipped by way of sale within British fishery limits; or (b) other evidence is provided of the vessel's presence in a United Kingdom, Isle of Man or Channel Islands port on at least four occasions at intervals of at least 15 days."The validity of the crewing and social security conditions was challenged in the Agegate case, and in addition the validity of the operating conditions was challenged in the Jaderow case. The Advocate-General's opinion in both cases was published in November 1988, and so was available at the time of the hearing before the Divisional Court; but the judgment of the European Court of Justice in the two cases was not delivered until 14 December 1989, and differed in certain important respects from the opinion of the Advocate-General. In the Agegate case, the court upheld the validity of the social security condition; but in respect of the crewing condition, while upholding the condition in so far as it required 75 per cent. of the crew to be nationals of member states, the court held that Community law precluded a condition requiring 75 per cent. of the crew to reside ashore in the United Kingdom. In the Jaderow case, the court held that Community law did not preclude a member state, in authorising one of its vessels to fish against national quotas, from laying down conditions designed to ensure that the vessel had a real economic link with that state if that link concerned only the relation between that vessel's fishing operations and the population dependent on fisheries and related industries; and, on that basis, the court broadly upheld the validity of the operating conditions imposed by the United Kingdom. These two decisions are significant in the context of the present appeal, in that they provide an indication of the nature of the economic link which the court is prepared to recognise for these purposes, a link which does not extend to include a residence requirement imposed upon 75 per cent. of the vessel's crew.Meanwhile the United Kingdom Government had come to the conclusion that there was substantial non-compliance with these conditions. Furthermore, the number of largely foreign beneficially owned vessels on the United Kingdom register continued to grow, mainly through the acquisition by Spanish interests of British fishing vessels; Spanish interests were also able to increase the number of licences held by them by acquiring vessels already holding United Kingdom licences. As a result, the problem was considered at a more fundamental level, by looking at the arrangements for registration of United Kingdom fishing vessels; and it was decided to introduce fresh legislation which, it was thought, would bring United Kingdom fishing vessel registration requirements "broadly into line with arrangements in a number of other member states" (see the first affidavit of Mr. Noble of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food) and to require fishing vessels on the United Kingdom register to be substantially owned by British interests. Hence the provisions of Part II of the Act of 1988.The interim order of the President (Case 246/89 R) related to certain provisions of section 14 of the Act of 1988. Other provisions of that section formed the basis of the applicants' application for interim relief before your Lordships' House, and I think, it desirable that I should set out the relevant parts of the section. Section 14(0(2) and (7) provide as follows:

- 10 -

. . .
"(1) Subject to subsections (3) and (4), a fishing vessel shall only be eligible to be registered as a British fishing vessel if - (a) the vessel is British-owned; (b) the vessel is managed, and its operations are directed and controlled, from within the United Kingdom; and (c) any charterer, manager or operator of the vessel is a qualified person or company.
"(2) For the purposes of subsection (l)(a) a fishing vessel is British owned if - (a) the legal title to the vessel is vested wholly in one or more qualified persons or companies; and (b) the vessel is beneficially owned - (i) as to not less than the relevant percentage of the property in the vessel, by one or more qualified persons, or

(ii) wholly by a qualified company or companies, or

(iii) by one or more qualified companies and, as to not less than the relevant percentage of the remainder of the property in the vessel, by one or more qualified persons.

"(7) In this section -

"qualified company' means a company which satisfies the following conditions, namely - (a) it is incorporated in the United Kingdom and has its principal place of business there; (b) at least the relevant percentage of its shares (taken as a whole), and of each class of its shares, is legally and beneficially owned by one or more qualified persons or companies; and (c) at least the relevant percentage of its directors are qualified persons;

'qualified person' means -

(a) a person who is a British citizen resident and domiciled in the United Kingdom, or(b) a local authority in the United Kingdom; and

- 11 -

'the relevant percentage' means 75 per cent. or such greater percentage (which may be 100 per cent.) as may for the time being be prescribed."The interim order of the President (Case 246/89 R) was made upon an application to him by the European Commission. The Commission brought an action under article 169 of the Treaty for a declaration that, by imposing the nationality requirements enshrined in section 13 and 14 of the Act of 1988, the United Kingdom had failed to fulfil its obligations under articles 7, 52 and 221 of the Treaty. The Commission further applied under article 186 of the Treaty and article 83 of the Rules of Procedure for an order requiring the United Kingdom to suspend the application of the nationality requirements enshrined in section 14(l)(a) and (c) of the Act, read in conjunction with paragraphs (2) and (7) of the section, as regards the nationals of other member states and in respect of fishing vessels which until 31 March 1989 were pursuing a fishing activity under the British flag and under a British fishing licence. Under article 83(2) of the Rules of Procedure, interim measures such as those requested may not be ordered unless there are circumstances giving rise to urgency and factual and legal grounds establishing a prima facie case for the measures applied for.The President granted the interim order asked for by the Commission. With regard to the issue whether a prima facie case had been established, he said:
"25. The United Kingdom further considers that the nationality requirements introduced by the Act of 1988 are justified by the present Community legislation on fisheries; that legislation, although it establishes a common system, is based on a principle of nationality for the purposes of the distribution of fishing quotas. Under article 5(2) of Council Regulation 170/83 it is for the member states to determine the detailed rules for the utilisation of the quotas allocated to them and thus to lay down the conditions which the vessels authorised to fish from these quotas must satisfy. 26. It must be observed that the system of national quotas established by Council Regulation 170/83 constitutes, as the United Kingdom contends, a derogation from the principle of equal access for Community fishermen to fishing grounds and the exploitation thereof in waters coming within the jurisdiction of the member states, which is itself a specific expression of the principle of non-discrimination laid down in article 40(3) of the E.E.C. Treaty. 27. That derogation is justified, according to the recitals in the preamble to Regulation No. 170/83, by the need, in a situation where there is a dearth of fishery resources, to ensure a relative stability in regard to fishing activities in order to safeguard the particular need of regions where local populations are especially dependent on fisheries and related industries. 28. The possibility cannot therefore be excluded that in their legislation concerning in particular the registration of fishing vessels and access to fishing activities the member states may be led to introduce requirements whose compatibility with Community law can be justified only by the necessity to attain the objectives of the Community system of fishing quotas. As the Commission itself has admitted in these

- 12 -

proceedings, such requirements may be necessary in order to ensure that there is a genuine link with the fishing industry of the member state against whose quota the vessel may fish. 29, However there is nothing which would prima facie warrant the conclusion that such requirements may derogate from the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of nationality contained in articles 52 and 221 of the E.E.C. Treaty regarding, respectively, the right of establishment and the right to participate in the capital of companies or firms within the meaning of article 58. 30. The rights deriving from the above-mentioned provisions of the Treaty include not only the rights of establishment and of participation in the capital of companies or firms but also the right to pursue an economic activity, as the case may be through a company, under the conditions laid down by the legislation of the country of establishment for its own nationals. 31. These rights prima facie also include the right to incorporate and manage a company whose object is to operate a fishing vessel registered in the state of establishment under the same conditions as a company controlled by nationals of that state. 32. As regards the United Kingdom's first submission based on its obligations under international law, it is sufficient to note, at this stage, that in this respect nothing has been put forward which at first sight could necessitate any derogation from the above-mentioned rights under Community law in order to ensure the effective exercise of British jurisdiction and control over the vessels in question. 33. It must therefore be held that, at the stage of these proceedings for the grant on interim relief, the application of the main proceedings does not appear to be without foundation and that the requirement of a prima facie is thus satisfied."The President went on to hold that sufficient urgency had also been established; in particular, for fishing vessels hitherto flying the British flag, cessation of their activities could cause serious damage. As regards the balance of interests he had this to say:
"39. Finally, as regards the balance of interests, it is not established that the interim measures applied for may jeopardise the objective pursued by the British legislation at issue, namely to ensure the existence of a genuine link between the vessels fishing against the British quotas and the British fishing industry. 40. It appears prima facie that the registration requirements laid down by the new legislation, other than those relating to nationality, and the measures adopted by the United Kingdom authorities in 1983 and 1986 would be sufficient to ensure the existence of such a link. The United Kingdom itself considers that the 'Anglo-Spanish vessels', which do not have that link with the United Kingdom, will not be able to satisfy the aforesaid requirements."
Following the President's order, section 14 of the Act of 1988 was amended (by the Merchant Shipping Act 1988 (Amendment) Order 1989 (S.I. 1989 No. 2006) with effect from 2 November 1989 to give effect to his order until after the final determination of the issue which was the subject of the Commission's substantive application.

(l) (a) and (2),

- 13 -

the expression "Community-owned" was substituted for "British- owned"; in section 14(7)(a), the words "or another state of the European Community" were added after the words "United Kingdom," and in (7)(c) the words "or a citizen of a Community State" were added after the words "British citizen." These changes have the effect that the nationality issue ceases to be relevant for the purposes of the present appeal, though the issue is, your Lordships were told, still being vigorously contested by the United Kingdom before the European Court of Justice on the substantive reference by the Divisional Court.The applicants nevertheless pursued their application for an interim injunction before your Lordships' House, but their complaint was restricted to other matters in section 14. They did not object, for the purposes of the present application, to the requirement, in section 14(l)(b), that a vessel should be managed and its operations directed and controlled from within the United Kingdom; they stated that they were able to comply with these requirements. Their complaint was directed towards therequirements for domicile and residence in the United Kingdom contained in the definition of "qualified person" in section 14(7), which apply both to beneficial owners of vessels and, in the case of vessels beneficially owned by companies, both to shareholders and to directors (under section 14(7)(b) and (c) respectively), with the effect that 75 per cent. of the relevant shareholders and directors are required to be resident and domiciled in the United Kingdom. This, they submitted, is contrary to the right of establishment under article 52 of the Treaty, and the right to participate in capital under article 221. In answer, the Secretary of State submitted that articles 52 and 221 of the Treaty cannot be taken to apply in their full rigour to the fisheries sector. If these articles, and article 7, were so to apply, it would be impossible to prevent fishing interests in one member state registering vessels in another member state in which event it would be impossible (inter alia) to prevent such vessels fishing against the quotas of the latter member state, to the detriment of that member state's fishing community and allied industries (who were intended to be protected by the quota system), and also to prevent Spanish vessels avoiding provisions of the Act of Accession of 1985 (Act of Accession of Spain and Portugal, Official Journal 1985 No. L. 302).It was further submitted by the applicants that the effect of the provisions relating to residence and domicile in section 14, whether or not coupled with the nationality provisions, was to render it impossible for many of the applicants' vessels to register as British fishing vessels on the register now maintained under the Act of 1988, with possibly catastrophic financial results for their owners. They relied upon the conclusion of Neill L.J. in the Divisional Court that he was not persuaded on the evidence before him that there were identifiable persons or communities whose activities or livelihood were being so seriously damaged, or would be so seriously damaged, as to outweigh the very obvious and immediate damage which would be caused by these new provisions if no interim relief were granted to the applicants. They submitted fresh evidence to your Lordships as showing that such damage was already being suffered; and they referred to the fact that, on the law as it stands at present (Bourgoin S.A. v. Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food [1986] Q.B. 716), the applicants

- 14 -

would have no remedy in damages for Joss or damage suffered by them by reason of the enforcement against them of provisions of the Act of 1988 if subsequently held to be incompatible with European law. Finally, it was stated that the judgment of the European Court of Justice on the substantive reference from the Divisional Court was expected in about a year's time, and that it would therefore be for no longer than that period that interim relief was required.I turn now to the applicable principles in cases in which an interim injunction is sought, with particular reference to a case such as the present, in which the public interest is involved.The jurisdiction of courts to grant interim injunctions is to be found in section 37 of the Supreme Court Act of 1981, under which the court has power to grant an injunction in all cases in which it appears to it to be just or convenient so to do, and has power to do so on such terms and conditions as it thinks fit. Guidelines for the exercise of the court's jurisdiction to grant interim injunctions were laid down by your Lordships' House in American Cyanamid Co. v. Ethicon Ltd. [1975] AC 396 , in the speech of Lord Diplock in that case, with which. the remainder of their Lordships concurred. I use the word "guidelines" advisedly, because I do not read Lord Diplock's speech as intended to fetter the broad discretion conferred on the courts by section 37 of the Supreme Court Act 1981; on the contrary, a prime purpose of the guidelines established in the Cyanamid case was to remove a fetter which appeared to have been imposed in certain previous cases, viz. that a party seeking an interlocutory injunction had to establish a prima facie case for substantive relief. It is now clear that it is enough if he can show that there is a serious case to be tried. If he can establish that, then he has, so to speak, crossed the threshold; and the court can then address itself to the question whether it is just or convenient to grant an injunction.Nothing which I say is intended to qualify the guidelines laid down in Lord Diplock's speech. But, before I turn to the question of public interest, which lies at the heart of the rival submissions in the present case, I must advert to the fact that Lord Diplock approached the matter in two stages. First, he considered the relevance of the availability of an adequate remedy in damages, either to the plaintiff seeking the injunction, or to the defendant in the event that an injunction is granted against him. As far as the plaintiff is concerned, the availability to him of such a remedy will normally preclude the grant to him of an interim injunction. If that is not so, then the court should consider whether, if an injunction is granted against the defendant, there will be an adequate remedy in damages available to him under the plaintiff's undertaking in damages; if so, there will be no reason on this ground to refuse to grant the plaintiff an interim injunction.At this stage of the court's consideration of the case (which I will for convenience call the first stage) many applications for interim injunctions can well be decided. But if there is doubt as to the adequacy of either or both of the respective remedies in damages, then the court proceeds to what is usually called the balance of convenience, and for that purpose will consider all the circumstances of the case. I will call this the second stage. Again, I stress that I do not wish to place any gloss upon what

- 15 -

Lord Diplock said about this stage. I wish only to record his statement that, at p. 408,
"It would be unwise to attempt even to list all the various matters which may need to be taken into consideration in deciding where the balance lies, let alone to suggest the relevant weight to be attached to them. These will vary from case to case"
and his further statement, at p. 409 (after referring to particular factors), that "there may be many other special factors to be taken into consideration in the particular circumstances of individual cases."I turn to consider the impact upon these guidelines of the public interest, with particular reference to cases in which a public authority is seeking to enforce the law against some person, and either the authority seeks an interim injunction to restrain that person from acting contrary to the law, and that person claims that no such injunction should be granted on the ground that the relevant law is, for some reason, invalid; or that other person seeks an interim injunction to restrain the action of the authority, on the same ground.I take the first stage. This may be affected in a number of ways. For example, where the Crown is seeking to enforce the law, it may not be thought right to impose upon the Crown the usual undertaking in damages as a condition of the grant of an injunction: see F. Hoffmann-La Roche & Co. A.G. v. Secretary of state for Trade and Industry [1975] A.C. 295. Again, in this country there is no general right to indemnity by reason of damage suffered through invalid administrative action; in particular, on the law as it now stands, there would be no remedy in damages available to the applicants in the present case for loss suffered by them by reason of the enforcement of the Act of 1988 against them, if the relevant part of the Act should prove to be incompatible with European law (see Bourgoin S.A. v. Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. Conversely, an authority acting in the public interest cannot normally be protected by a remedy in damages because it will itself have suffered none. It follows that, as a general rule, in cases of this kind involving the public interest, the problem cannot be solved at the first stage, and it will be necessary for the court to proceed to the second stage, concerned with the balance of convenience.Turning then to the balance of convenience, it is necessary in cases in which a party is a public authority performing duties to the public that "one must look at the balance of convenience more widely, and take into account the interests of the public in general to whom these duties are owed": see Smith v. Inner London Education Authority [1978] 1 All E.R. 411, 422, per Browne L.J., and see also Sierbien v. Westminster City Council (1987) 86 L.G.R. 431. Like Browne L.J., I incline to the opinion that this can be treated as one of the special factors referred to by Lord Diplock in the passage from his speech which I have quoted. In this context, particular stress should be placed upon the importance of upholding the law of the land, in the public interest, bearing in mind the need for stability in our society, and the duty placed upon certain authorities to enforce the law in the public

- 16 -

interest. This is of itseif an important factor to be weighed in the balance when assessing the balance of convenience. So if a public authority seeks to enforce what is on its face the law of the land, and the person against whom such action is taken challenges the validity of that law, matters of considerable weight have to be put into the balance to outweigh the desirability of enforcing, in the public interest, what is on its face the law, and so to justify the refusal of an interim injunction in favour of the authority, or to render it just or convenient to restrain the authority for the time being from enforcing the law. This was expressed in a number of different ways by members of the Appellate Committee in the Hoffmann-La Roche case. Lord Reid said, at p. 341 that
"it is for the person against whom the interim injunction is sought to show special reason why justice requires that the injunction should not be granted or should only be granted on terms."
Lord Morris of Borth-y-Gest, at pp. 352-353, stressed that all considerations appertaining to the justice of the matter become within the purview of the court; but he also stated that, in a case where the defendant attacks the validity of what appears to be an authentic law, the measure of the strength of this attack must inevitably call for some consideration. Lord Diplock, at p. 367 asserted that prima facie the Crown is entitled as of right to an interim injunction to enforce obedience to the law; and that
"To displace this right or to fetter it by the imposition of conditions it is for the defendant to show a strong prima facie case that the statutory instrument is ultra vires."
Lord Cross of Chelsea did not expressly address the point. Lord Wilberforce, in a dissenting speech, stressed, at p. 358, that, in the last resort, the matter is one for the discretion of the judge; in particular, he rejected a suggestion that the presumption of validity of subordinate legislation required the court to enforce such legislation, by an interlocutory injunction, against the party who was calling the validity of such legislation in question.I myself am of the opinion that in these cases, as in others, the discretion conferred upon the court cannot be fettered by a rule; I respectfully doubt whether there is any rule that, in cases such as these, a party challenging the validity of a law must - to resist an application for an interim injunction against him, or to obtain an interim injunction restraining the enforcement of the law - show a strong prima facie case that the law is invalid. It is impossible to foresee what cases may yet come before the courts; I cannot dismiss from my mind the possibility (no doubt remote) that such a party may suffer such serious and irreparable harm in the event of the law being enforced against him that it may be just or convenient to restrain its enforcement by an interim injunction even though so heavy a burden has not been discharged by him. In the end, the matter is one for the discretion of the court, taking into account all the circumstances of the case. Even so, the court should not restrain a public authority by interim injunction from enforcing an apparently authentic law unless it is satisfied, having regard to all the circumstances, that the challenge to the validity of the law is, prima facie, so firmly based as to justify so exceptional a course being taken.

- 17 -

With these principles in mind, I come to the facts of the present case. There can be no question of the present application being decided at the first stage of Lord Diplock's approach, and it is necessary to proceed at once to the second stage.Your Lordships heard submissions from both parties about the strength of the applicants' challenge to the relevant provisions of section 14 of the Act of 1988. It is plain that the United Kingdom will, before the European Court of Justice, be resisting most strongly arguments by the applicants that any provision in section 14 is incompatible with European law, whether in respect of nationality (despite the recent decision of the President to grant interim relief), or in respect of domicile and residence of beneficial owners, shareholders and directors. It is unnecessary, and perhaps undesirable, for your Lordships now to analyse these arguments. They are set out in detail in the written observations already submitted by the United Kingdom and by the applicants to the European Court of Justice on the substantive reference by the Divisional Court, copies of which have been made available to your Lordships. There are, however, certain reasons which persuaded me to conclude, for present purposes, that, prima facie, the applicants had strong grounds for challenging the validity of the provisions relating to residence and domicile. First, a central element in the argument of the United Kingdom, in seeking to uphold the validity of section 14, is that articles 7, 52 and 221 of the Treaty should not be interpreted as affecting the nationality of vessels, or the grant of flags, in respect of which competence remains in principle with the member states. It has to be said, however, that an argument on these lines does not appear to have found favour with the President on the Commission's application for interim relief. Second, although in the Jaderow case [1990] 3 W.L.R. 265 the European Court accepted that a member state, in authorising a vessel to fish against national quotas, might lay down conditions designed to ensure that it had a real economic link with the state if that link concerned only the relation between that vessel's fishing operations and the populations dependent on fisheries and related industries, yet in the Agegate case [1990] 3 W.L.R. 226 the court rejected as invalid a condition requiring residence in the member state of 75 per cent. of the vessel's crew. If such a residence qualification is rejected in respect of the crew, as a condition of the grant of a vessel's licence, it may well be difficult to persuade the court to adopt a residence qualification relating to beneficial owners, or to 75 per cent. of shareholders in or directors of a company which beneficially owns a vessel, as a condition of registration of a fishing vessel under the Act of 1988; a fortiori must the same be true of a condition relating to domicile. As to the final outcome on these issues after consideration by the court, your Lordships can of course express no opinion; but these two points alone led me to conclude that the applicants' challenge is, prima facie, a strong one.It is on that basis that I turn to consider the balance of convenience a whole. I have already referred to the view formed by Neill L.J., when the matter was before the Divisional Court, that serious damage may be caused to the applicants if no interim relief is granted. Your Lordships were furnished with up to date evidence in the form of answers to a questionnaire sent to owners of 62 vessels during the recent hearing. None of the answers to

- 18 -

the questionnaire was on oath; and it was not in the circumstances possible for the Secretary of State to test the answers, or indeed to check their accuracy. However, no objection was made to this material being placed before your Lordships.The answers to the questionnaire were not complete. However, from the answers received it was possible to derive the following basic information. All 62 vessels ceased to be on the United Kingdom register after the lapse of the old register on 1 April 1989. 24 of the vessels have not fished since their registration lapsed; of the remainder, 33 have fished but only outside E.E.C. waters, in some cases for very short periods and in most cases after being laid up for a considerable time. 24 vessels have succeeded in obtaining registration under the Act of 1988, but always for special reasons, 14 of them because shares in the owning company had been sold to qualified persons or companies. 30 owners have tried to sell their vessels, but none of them has received an acceptable offer. Many owners claim to have suffered damages to date of well over £100,000; some fear imminent bankruptcy.Your Lordships also had the benefit of a fourth affidavit sworn by Mr. Noble of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. Apart from specific comments on particular vessels in the ownership of the applicants, he placed evidence before your Lordships to the effect that, as a result of the introduction of the new register, a number of British fishing vessels other than those owned by Spanish interests had been able to take up the opportunities now available to them, taking increased catches, employing extra crew, investing in new vessels to take advantage of the new opportunities, and generating increased activity onshore. He considered that, if the applicants' vessels returned to the British fleet and resumed their previous activities, the owners of these British fishing vessels would suffer serious losses; and he anticipated that the reintroduction of stiff quota restrictions would be required. However, even taking this evidence fully into account, I have, on all the material available to your Lordships, formed the same opinion as that formed by Neill L.J. in the Divisional Court on the material then before him, that there was not sufficient to outweigh the obvious and immediate damage which would continue to be caused if no interim relief were granted to the applicants.It was for these reasons that, in agreement with the remainder of your Lordships, I concluded that the appeal should be allowed and interim relief granted in the terms of the order made.

LORD JAUNCEY OF TULLICHETTLE

My Lords,I have had the advantage or reading in draft the speech to be delivered by my noble and learned friend Lord Goff of Chieveley. I agree with the conclusion at which he has arrived and I gratefully adopt his detailed account of the circumstances giving rise to the present appeal. It is only because of the

- 19 -

importance and novelty of the principal question to be considered that I venture to add a few observations thereanent.

The European Court of Justice has ruled (Case C-213/89) that

"Community law must be interpreted as meaning that a national court which, in a case before it concerning Community law, considers that the sole obstacle which precludes it from granting interim relief is a rule of national law must set aside that rule."
This House is accordingly now faced with the wholly novel situation of determining whether in the circumstances of this appeal interim relief against the application of primary -legislation should be granted to the applicants, pending the decision of the Court of Justice on the reference by the Divisional Court of 10 March 1989. In reaching a conclusion the following matters have to be addressed, namely:(1) the threshold which must be crossed by the applicants before this House will consider intervening,(2) whether they have crossed that threshold, and(3) if they have, whether the balance of convenience favours the granting of interim relief.

(1) The threshold

When this appeal was last before your Lordships' House [1990] 2 AC 85 my noble and learned friend Lord Bridge of Harwich referred to the familiar situation in which a plaintiff seeks an interim injunction to protect a right when the material facts are in dispute and continued, at p. 139:
"In this situation the court has a discretion to grant or withhold interim relief which it exercises in accordance with the principles laid down by your Lordships' House in American Cyanamid Co. v. Ethicon Ltd. [1975] AC 396 . In deciding on a balance of convenience whether or not to make an interim injunction the court is essentially engaged in an exercise of holding the ring."
American Cyanamid concerned a claim for alleged infringement of patent and an application for interim injunction was made upon contested facts. Lord Diplock referred, at p. 407, to:
"the supposed rule that the court is not entitled to take any account of the balance of convenience unless it has first been satisfied that if the case went to trial upon no other evidence than is before the court at the hearing of the application the plaintiff would be entitled to judgment for a permanent injunction in the same terms as the interlocutory injuction sought"
and continued:

"Your Lordships should in my view take this opportunity of

declaring that there is no such rule. The use of such

expressions as 'a probability,' 'a prima facie case,' or 'a

. strong prima facie case' in the context of the exercise of a

- 20 -

discretionary power to grant an interlocutory injunction leads to confusion as to the object sought to be achieved by this form of temporary relief. The court no doubt must be satisfied that the claim is not frivolous or vexatious; in other words, that there is a serious question to be tried. It is no part of the court's function at this stage of the litigation to try to resolve conflicts of evidence on affidavit as to facts on which the claims of either party may ultimately depend nor to decide difficult questions of law which call for detailed argument and mature considerations. These are matters to be dealt with at the trial."As I understand it Lord Diplock in that passage was saying that the court must be satisfied that there is a serious question to be tried before it considers the balance of convenience. Indeed this must be so since it would be quite wrong that a plaintiff should obtain interim relief on the basis of a claim which was groundless. I agree that it is not the function of the court to try to resolve conflicts of evidence at an interlocutory stage but I would demur to any suggestion that in no circumstances would it be appropriate to decide questions of law. If the only question at issue between the parties is one of law it may be possible in many cases to decide this at the stage of a contested application of an interim injunction. For example, where an employer seeks to enforce a restrictive covenant in a former employee's contract of employment and the only defence is that the covenant by reason of its wide terms is unenforceable, it would be wholly illogical to grant to the employer an interim injunction on the basis that there was a serious question to be tried when the question could at the same time be resolved as matter of law in favour of the employee.However, while the test of a serious question to be tried is appropriate to proceedings between private parties where no presumption favours the position of one party as against the other it does not follow that the same considerations apply when primary legislation and the public interest are involved. Indeed, my noble and learned friend Lord Bridge of Harwich (Reg. v. Secretary of State for Transport, Ex parte Factortame Ltd). [1990] 2 A.C. 83, 140 remarked upon the fundamental distinction between the familiar situation and that which arises in this appeal. In F. Hoffmann-La Roche & Co. A.G. v. Secretary of State for Trade and Industry [1975] A.C. 295, the Secretary of State having sought by interim injuction to enforce a statutory instrument approved by both Houses of Parliament the defenders maintained that the instrument was ultra vires. Lord Reid said, at p. 341, that
"it is for the person against whom the interim injunction is sought to show special reason why justice requires that the injunction should not be granted or should only be granted on terms"
and Lord Morris of Borth-y-Gest, at p. 353, pointed out that the measure of the strength of the attack upon the statutory instrument must inevitably call for some consideration. Lord Diplock said, at p. 366:
"All that can usefully be said is that the presumption that subordinate legislation is intra vires prevails in the absence

- 21 -

of rebuttal, and that it cannot be rebutted except by a party to legal proceedings in a court of competent jurisdiction who has locus standi to challenge the validity of the subordinate legislation in question."He said, at p. 367:
"So in this type of law enforcement action if the only defence is an attack on the validity of the statutory instrument sought to be enforced the ordinary position of the parties as respects the grant of interim injunctions is reversed. The duty of the Crown to see that the law declared by the statutory instrument is obeyed is not suspended by the commencement of proceedings in which the validity of the instrument is challenged. Prima facie the Crown is entitled as of right to an interim injunction to enforce obedience to it. To displace this right or to fetter it by the imposition of conditions it is for the defendant to show a strong prima facie case that the statutory instrument is ultra vires."
These observations, in my view, apply not only where a defendant is seeking to resist an attempt by the Crown to enforce secondary legislation but also where a plaintiff is seeking to restrict the Crown in its operation of such legislation. They must be equally appropriate to a challenge to primary legislation as they are to a challenge to secondary legislation. Indeed, when this appeal was last before this House Lord Bridge said, at p. 142
"In this situation the difficulty which confronts the applicants is that the presumption that an Act of Parliament is compatible with Community law unless and until declared to be incompatible must be at least as strong as the presumption that delegated legislation is valid unless and until declared invalid."
Given this presumption it follows from the above observations of Lord Diplock that it is for the Crown to enforce the provisions of the Act of 1988 and that anyone, whether a plaintiff or defendant, who seeks to challenge the validity thereof must at least show a strong prima facie case of incompatibility with Community law. It is the presumption in favour of the legislation being challenged which in my view makes the American Cyanimid test of a serious question to be tried inappropriate in a case such as the present. In expressing this opinion I must emphasise that I am in no way criticising the appropriateness of the American Cyanimid test for cases where primary or secondary legislation is not being challenged nor am I suggesting that Lord Diplock's approach to the balance of convenience is not appropriate in this case.My Lords,I have considered anxiously whether other factors such as relative hardship or injustice should play any part in determining the appropriate threshold which an applicant for relief in circumstances such as the present should cross. Given the wide discretion conferred upon the courts by section 45 of the Judicature Act 1925 I would not wish to lay down any rules which might unduly inhibit that discretion in unforeseen circumstances in the future. Suffice it to say that as at present advised it would only be in the most exceptional circumstances that I can foresee

- 22 -

the threshold being lowered by factors not directly related to the invalidity of the legislation under challenge. In the normal case other factors would be considered in relation to the balance of convenience. If an applicant seeking an injunction against primary or secondary legislation cannot show a strong prima facie ground of challenge it will in the absence of quite exceptional circumstances avail him nought that a refusal of an injunction would result in greater injustice to him should he succeed at trial than would result to the other party if the injunction was granted and he failed at trial.I therefore conclude that the applicants will only cross the threshold if they demonstrate that there is a strong prima facie case that section 14 of the Act of 1988 is incompatible with Community law, which failing that exceptional circumstances exist would justify lowering the threshold.(2) Have the applicants crossed the threshold?Section 14(1) provides that a fishing vessel shall only be eligible to be registered as a British fishing vessel if inter alia "the vessel is British-owned." Section 14(2) provides that a fishing vessel is British-owned if the legal title is vested wholly in one or more qualified persons or companies and section 14(7) provides that a qualified company is one which is incorporated in the United Kingdom with 75 per cent. of the shares held by and 75 per cent. of its directors being qualified persons. Qualified person is defined in section 14(7) as "a person who is a British citizen resident and domiciled in the United Kingdom." It is to this latter definition that Mr. Vaughan confined his attack on the ground that such a restriction in ownership was incompatible with Community law.Since the appeal was last before this House in 1989 certain important events have taken place in the European Court. On 4 August 1989 (Commission of the European Communities v. United Kingdom (Case 246/89 R) the Commission sought a declaration that the nationality requirements of section 14 of the Act of 1988 constituted a failure by the United Kingdom to fulfil certain of its Treaty obligations. On 10 October 1989 the President of the Court made the following Order:
"Pending delivery of the judgment in the main proceedings, the United Kingdom shall suspend the application of the nationality requirements laid down in section 14(1)(a) and (c) of the Merchant Shipping Act 1988, read in conjunction with paragraphs (2) and (7) of that section, as regards the nationals of other member states and in respect of fishing vessels which, until 31 March 1989, were pursuing a fishing activity under the British flag and under a British fishing licence; ..."
Effect was given to this order by the Merchant Shipping Act 1988 (Amendment) Order 1989 which, in relation to the fishing vessels in question, amended section 14 by substituting "Community-owned for British-owned" in subsection 1 and by amending the definition of the qualified person to read a person who is a British citizen or a national of a member state other than the United Kingdom and in either case resident and domiciled in the United Kingdom.

- 23 -

It will be noted that the Commission did not seek to challenge the residence and domicile qualification which is now challenged by Mr. Vaughan. On 14 December 1989 the European Court similarly constituted gave judgment in two cases which may for convenience be called Agegate and Jaderow [1990] 3 WLR 226 and 265). Both cases concerned the grant to British-registered fishing vessels with strong Spanish connections of fishing licences which contained ere wing conditions to the effect that:(1) at least 75 per cent. of the crew must be British citizens or E.E.C. nationals (excluding until 1 January 1993 Spanish nationals), and(2) the skipper and all the crew must be making contributions to United Kingdom national insurance. In the course of the Agegate judgment the following observations on the quota system were made, at p. 261:
"24. It follows from the foregoing that the aim of the quotas is to assure to each member state a share of the Community's total allowable catch, determined essentially on the basis of the catches from which traditional fishing activities, the local populations dependent on fisheries and related industries of that member state benefited before the quota system was established. 25. In that context a residence requirement such as the one in point in this case is irrelevant to the aim of the quota system and cannot therefore be justified by that aim."
And the court ruled inter alia, at p. 264:
"2. Community law precludes a member state from requiring, as a condition for authorising one of its vessels to fish against its quotas, that 75 per cent. of the crew of the vessel in question must reside ashore in that member state. 3. Save in those cases where Council Regulation (E.E.C.) No. 1408/71 of the otherwise provides, Community law does not preclude a member state from requiring, as a condition for authorising one of its vessels to fish against its quotas, that the skipper and all the crew of the vessel must be making contributions to the social security scheme of that member state."
In the Jaderow judgment the court recognised that the aim of national quotas derived from the common fisheries policy might justify conditions designed to ensure that there was a real economic link between the vessel and the member state in question if the purpose of such conditions was that the populations dependent on fisheries and related industries should benefit from the question. The court ruled inter alia, at p. 295 that Community law as it now stands:
"(1) does not preclude a member state, in authorising one of its vessels to fish against national quotas, from laying down conditions designed to ensure that the vessel has a real economic link with that state if that link concerns only the relations between that vessel's fishing operations and the populations dependent on fisheries and related industries; (2) Does not preclude a member state, in authorising one of its vessels to fish against national quotas, from laying down the condition, in order to ensure that there is a real economic link as defined above, that the vessel is to operate from national ports, if that condition does not involve an

- 24 -

obligation for the vessel to depart from a national port on all its fishing trips; ..."It is to my mind implicit in these two decisions that the court did not consider that residence and domicile of a specified percentage of the crew was justified as a condition designed to ensure the existence of a real economic link between the vessel and the member state. Had the court so considered Agegate must have been decided differently. If residence of the crew is not relevant to ensure the existent of a real economic link between vessel and member state what is the position in relation to the residence of shareholders and directors of an owning company? The role of this House is not to give an answer to that question but rather to assess the prospects of the European Court giving an answer which is favourable to the applicants. Directors and shareholders are further removed from any link between a vessel and a member state than are members of the crew and the European Court having decided that residence of the latter is not relevant to ensure the existence of a real economic link there must at least be a strong probability that the court will take a similar view in relation to the former. Upon that assumption it would appear that the applicants can show a strong prima facie ground of challenge to the relevant statutory provision. However, there remains for consideration the argument of the Crown that Community law does not affect the sovereign right of a member state to lay down the conditions for the grant of its flag to ships. Customary international law, as expressed in article 5(1) of the Geneva Convention on the High Seas, requires that there should be a genuine link between a vessel and the state of her flag. Article 94 of the 1982 Convention of the Law on the Sea sets out the important legal and international obligations incurred by a state in relation to a vessel to whom the flag of the state has been granted. In the absence of any express provision it should not be presumed that the Treaty interferes with the exercise by a member state of its sovereign powers. I was initially attracted by these submissions and in some doubt as to whether they should not be given effect to. However on further consideration of the President's ruling of 10 October 1989 I have come to the conclusion that the applicants can show that they are very likely to be rejected by the European Court. In the context of legislative requirements introduced by member states to obtain the objective of the Community system of fishing quotas the President said:
"29. However there is nothing which would prima facie warrant the conclusion that such requirements may derogate from the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of nationality contained in articles 52 and 221 of the E.E.C. Treaty regarding, respectively, the right of establishment and the right to participate in the capital of companies or firms within the meaning of article 58. 30. The rights deriving from the above-mentioned provisions of the Treaty include not only the rights of establishment and of participation in the capital of companies or firms but also the right to pursue an economic activity, as the case may be through a company, under the conditions laid down by the legislation of the country of establishment for its own nationals. 31. These rights prima facie also include the right to incorporate and manage a company whose object is

- 25 -

to operate a fishing vessel registered in the state of establishment under the same conditions as a company controlled by nationals of state. 32. As regards the United Kingdom's first submission based on its obligations under international law, it is sufficient to note, at this stage, that in this respect nothing has been put forward which at first sight could necessitate any derogation from the above- mentioned rights under Community law in order to ensure the effective exercise of British jurisidiction and control over the vessels in question. 33. It must therefore be held that, at the stage of these proceedings for the grant of interim relief, the application in the main proceedings does not appear to be without foundation and that the requirement of a prima facie case is thus satisfied."Given the foregoing observations of the President it would appear that the applicants have a strong chance of successfully arguing before the European Court that international law does not justify derogation from the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of nationality contained in articles 52 and 221 of the Treaty.In all these circumstances I consider that the applicants have crossed the threshold in relation to section 14 of the Act of 1988. It is therefore unnecessary to consider whether such exceptional circumstances exist as will justify lowering that threshold.

(3) Balance of convenience

In Films Rover International Ltd, v. Cannon Film Sales Ltd. [1987] 1 W.L.R. 670 Hoffmann J. in considering an application for an interlocutory mandatory injunction implicitly acknowledged that there was a serious question to be tried and said, at p. 680:
"The principal dilemma about the grant of interlocutory injunctions, whether prohibitory or mandatory, is that there is by definition a risk that the court may make the 'wrong' decision, in the sense of granting an injunction to a party who fails to establish his right at the trial (or would fail if there was a trial) or alternatively, in failing to grant an injunction to a party who succeeds (or would succeed) at trial. A fundamental principle is therefore that the court should take whichever course appears to carry the lower risk of injustice if it should turn out to have been 'wrong' in the sense I have described. The guidelines for the grant of both kinds of interlocutory injunctions are derived from this principle."
I find this approach of assistance in the present case.If the applicants are successful in the end of the day but are afforded no interim relief they will, standing the law as laid down in Bourgoin S.A. v. Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and Food [1986] Q.B. 716, suffer very severe and irrecoverable damage. If they are ultimately unsuccessful but are afforded interim relief the loss suffered by the British fishing industry as a whole and by individual members thereof during the period of interim relief will be relatively minor. Beyond this I cannot usefully add anything to what has already been said on this matter by my noble and

- 26 -

learned friend Lord Goff of Chieveley. It follows that, the applicants having crossed the threshold, the balance of convenience favours the granting to them of interim relief.

- 27 -

Cited in 2 later judgments