Court proceedings should be in public and freely reported, and any restrictions should be kept to the minimum necessary to enable justice to be done, the Court of Appeal said last week.

Refusing to allow a case to be heard in private, the master of the rolls, Lord Neuberger said: ‘As has been stated on many occasions, court hearings should take place in public and should be freely reported unless justice cannot be done on that basis in the particular case.

‘And in that event, the court should ensure that the restrictions on access and reporting are the minimum to enable justice to be done in that case.’

The case before the court concerned an appeal against the refusal by Mr Justice Eady to continue an injunction obtained by Elena Ambrosiadou to stop her estranged husband, Martin Coward, publishing information from papers in foreign divorce proceedings.

The appellant had asked for the case to be heard in private because it would refer to confidential information.

Rejecting the application for a private hearing, the court ordered that there should be no reporting of specific information without the court’s permission or the written agreement of both parties or their solicitors.

‘On that basis, we could see no objection to the hearing proceeding in open court,’ said Neuberger.

He allowed Ambrosiadou’s appeal to allow the injunction to continue.