'Person' as in Section 13

[Nicholas Bohm]

At 02:16 PM 8/6/1999 +0100, Ian Miller wrote:
>I hope the lawyers will excuse my ignorance and go some way to dispelling it.
>
>My understanding is that a legal 'person' can be a 'natural person' or a
>company.  Section 13 seems to refer to just to persons so could refer to
>either.  

Unless otherwise specified "person" includes legal and natural persons.

>Assuming the legisation was passed as currently drafted how are
>the courts likely to rule on the following:-
>
>An individual is a company's senior system administrator (as it happens I
>am; hence the interest) and they have access to company's master encryption
>keys.  However they only have access by dint of their position, not as a
>private individual.  Release of those keys to a third party is summary
>dismissal offence.  If the system administrator was personally served with
>a warrant, would they be justified in refusing to comply on the grounds
>that they, as a private person, have no lawful access to the key?  

Almost certainly not - if the individual can in practice disclose it, he
has sufficient possession to be subject to a clause 10 notice/

>If they
>were to comply, and were subsequently dismissed for doing so, would they
>have any claim to unfair dismissal?  

Probably, since they acted under legal compulsion; but this argues for
conferring a special legal immunity for the making of a disclosure in good
faith in the belief that it was compelled by a clause 10 notice.

>If the warrant was served on the
>company, then presumably the 'company' is deemed to know about the warrant.
> Under these circumstances who in the company could be told about it?  The
>directors, shareholders, employees?

The directors are the company's "mind", and perhaps the company secretary
could also be told.  Others not unless necessary to obtain disclosure of
the key (perhaps none of the directors know how)>

>It strikes me that the precise interpretation of this could be very
>important in organising the security measures protecting keys. 

Too right, and it could give rise to worrying practical problems in large
organsiations like banks.

Regards,

Nicholas Bohm

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