Adverse publicity may impede the course of justice in a variety of different ways,
The ECtHR, in the Sunday Times case,
recognised the “pressure principle”
referred to by the House of Lords, and held that it was sufficiently certain.
The Court also considers that there can be no doubt that the
‘pressure principle’ was formulated with sufficient precision to enable
the applicants to foresee to the appropriate degree the consequences
which publication of the draft article might entail. In Vine Products Ltd
v Green,
Mr Justice Buckley had formulated the law in this way:
It is a contempt of this court for any newspaper to comment on
pending legal proceedings in any way which is likely to prejudice
the fair trial of the action. That may arise in various ways. It may
be that the comment is one which is likely in some way or other
to bring pressure to bear upon one or other of the parties to the
action, so as to prevent that party from prosecuting or from
defending the action, or encourage that party to submit to terms
