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OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT 1911

OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT 1911 - LONG TITLE

An Act to re-enact the Official Secrets Act, 1889, with
Amendments{1}.
[22nd August 1911]
Penalties for spying.

OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT 1911 - SECT 1

1.(1) If any person for any purpose prejudicial to the safety or
interests of the State

(a)approaches, [inspects, passes over] or is in the neighbourhood of,
or enters any prohibited 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, [collects, records, or publishes,] or communicates to any
other person [any secret official code word, or pass word, or] 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,

(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 safety or 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 [or any
secret official code word or pass word], is made, obtained,
[collected, recorded, published], or communicated by any person other
than a person acting under lawful authority, it shall be deemed to
have been made, obtained, [collected, recorded, published] or
communicated for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of
the State unless the contrary is proved.

OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT 1911 - SECT 2
Wrongful communication, etc. of information.

2.(1) If any person having in his possession or control [any secret
official code word, or pass word, or] 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 [or to which he has
had access] 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 [code word, pass word,] sketch, plan, model,
article, note, document, or information to any person, other than a
person to whom he is authorised 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 [or fails to comply
with all directions issued by lawful authority with regard to the
return or disposal thereof]: [or

(c)fails to take reasonable care of, or so conducts himself as to
endanger the safety of the sketch, plan, model, article, note,
document, secret official code or pass word or information:]

[(1A) If any person having in his possession or control any sketch,
plan, model, article, note, document, or information which relates to
munitions of war, communicates it directly or indirectly to any
foreign power, or in any other manner prejudicial to the safety or
interests of the State, that person shall be guilty of a
misdemeanour].

(2) If any person receives any [secret official code word, or pass
word, or] sketch, plan, model, article, note, document, or
information, knowing, or having reasonable ground to believe, at the
time when he receives it, that the [code word, pass word,] 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
[code word, pass word,] sketch, plan, model, article, note, document,
or information was contrary to his desire.

Subs.(3) rep. by 1920 c.75 s.11 sch.2

OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT 1911 - SECT 3
Definition of prohibited place.

3. For the purposes of this Act, the expression "prohibited place"
means

(a)[any work of defence, arsenal, naval or air force establishment
or station, factory, dockyard, mine, minefield, camp, ship, or
aircraft belonging to or occupied by or on behalf of His Majesty,
or any telegraph, telephone, wireless or signal station, or office
so belonging or occupied, and any place belonging to or occupied by
or on behalf of His Majesty and used for the purpose of building,
repairing, making, or storing any munitions of war, or any sketches,
plans, models or documents relating thereto, or for the purpose of
getting any metals, oil, or minerals of use in time of war;] and

(b)any place not belonging to His Majesty where any [munitions of
war], or any [sketches, models, plans] or documents relating thereto,
are being made, repaired, [gotten,] or stored under contract with,
or with any person on behalf of, His Majesty, or otherwise on
behalf of His Majesty; and

(c)any place belonging to [or used for the purposes of] His Majesty
which is for the time being declared [by order of 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 enemy; and

(d)any railway, road, way, or channel, or other means of
communication 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 [munitions of war], or any
[sketches, models, 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 order of 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.

Ss.4, 5 rep. by 1920 c.75 s.11 sch.2; 1967 c.18 s.15(2) sch.2
Pt.II

OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT 1911 - SECT 6
Power to arrest.

6. Any person who is found committing an offence under this Act,
..., or who is reasonably suspected of having committed, or having
attempted to commit, or being about to commit, such an offence, may
be apprehended and detained ....

OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT 1911 - SECT 7
Penalty for harbouring spies.

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
knowingly permits to meet or assemble 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 omits or 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 misdemeanour
....

OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT 1911 - SECT 8
Restriction on prosecution.

8. A prosecution for an offence under this Act shall not be
instituted except by or with the consent of the Attorney-General:

Proviso rep. by 1975 c.59 s.14(5) sch.6 Pt.I

OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT 1911 - SECT 9
Search warrants.

9.(1) If a justice of the peace is satisfied by information on
oath that there is reasonable ground 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 named 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 connection with which he
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.

OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT 1911 - SECT 10
Extent of Act and place of trial of offence.

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.

Subs.(4) rep. by 1975 c.62 s.23(2) sch.3

OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT 1911 - SECT 12
Interpretation.

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
... whether the place is or is not actually vested in His Majesty;

The expression "Attorney-General" ... as respects Ireland, means the
Attorney ... General for Ireland ...;

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 "munitions of war" includes the whole or any part
of any ship, submarine, aircraft, tank or similar engine, arms and
ammunition, torpedo, or mine, intended or adapted for use in war,
and any other article, material, or device, whether actual or
proposed, intended for such use;]

The expression "superintendent of police" includes any police officer
of a like or superior rank [and any person upon whom the powers
of a superintendent of police are for the purposes of this Act
conferred by a Secretary of State];

The expression "office under His Majesty" includes any office or
employment in or under any department of the Government of the
United Kingdom, or of any British possession;

The expression "offence under this Act" includes any act, omission,
or other thing which is punishable under this Act.

OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT 1911 - SECT 13
Short title.

13.(1) This Act may be cited as the Official Secrets Act, 1911.

Subs.(2) rep. by SLR 1927