Common Informers Act 1951
The Common Informers Act 1951 is an Act of the United Kingdom Parliament that abolishes the principle of, and procedures concerning a common informer.
Background
A common informer was a person who provided evidence on criminal trials or prosecuted for breaches of Irish penal laws solely for the purpose of being rewarded with the penalty recovered, or a share of it. In medieval England, there was no police force and the state bureaucracy was insufficiently well developed to be able to ensure obedience to new laws. The practice of allowing the public to sue for penalties was successful and soon became widespread.An action by a common informer was termed a "popular" or qui tam action. A legal action by an informer had to be brought within a year of the offence, unless a specific time was prescribed by the statute. The informer had to prove his case strictly and was given no assistance by the court being denied discovery.
Following the Revolution of 1688 in England, the Popery Act 1698 introduced a reward of £100 for the apprehension of any Roman Catholic priest. The result was that Catholics were placed at the mercy of common informers who harassed them for the sake of gain, even when the government would have left them in peace.
Jonathan Swift described common informers as "a detestable race of people" while Edward Coke called them "viperous vermin".
In 1931, Millie Orpen, a solicitor's clerk, brought an action as a common informer against a cinema chain for opening on a succession of Sundays, contrary to the Sunday Observance Act 1780, s.1. Orpen claimed £25,000 against the cinema company and individual members of its board of directors. The claim was based on a forfeit of £200 per performance per defendant. The judge, Mr Justice Rowlatt, expressed some distaste for the proceedings. He found against the cinema chain, awarding Orpen £5,000, with costs, but found for the individual directors on the grounds there was no evidence they were guilty on any particular Sunday. Costs were awarded to the directors against Orpen. The judge granted a stay pending an appeal by the company. Later in the year, Orpen brought a claim against another chain, but was thwarted by a change in the law legalising Sunday opening for cinemas before her case could be decided.
The Act
Many statutes, such as the Simony Act 1588 and the White Herring Fisheries Act 1771, provide for penalties for offenders in breach of the provisions. Before the Common Informers Act 1951, there were further statutory provisions for the levied penalties to be paid over to an informer. For example, section 15 of the Commissioners Clauses Act 1847, still in force, states:The Common Informers Act 1951 removed the right to recover a penalty from 48 Acts, including:
| Statute | Status |
| Sale of Wares after Close of Fair Act 1331 | Repealed |
| Apprentices Act 1526 | Repealed |
| Maintenance and Embracery Act 1540 | Repealed |
| Leases by Corporations Act 1541 | Repealed |
| Sale of Horses Act 1555 | Repealed |
| Simony Act 1588 | In force |
| An Act to prevent the overcharge of the People by Stewards of Courte Leets and Courte Barons | |
| Act of Uniformity 1662 | Repealed |
| Bank of England Act 1694 | In force |
| Plate Assay Act 1700 | |
| Plate Act 1738 | |
| Gold and Silver Thread Act 1741 | 1 January 1975 |
| Universities Act 1743 | In force |
| Linen Act 1744 | |
| Disorderly Houses Act 1751 | Repealed |
| Fisheries Act 1756 | |
| Bank Notes Act 1765 | |
| White Herring Fisheries Act 1771 | In force |
| Plate Assay Act 1772 | Repealed |
| Sunday Observance Act 1780 | Repealed |
| Land Tax Commissioners Act 1798 | |
| Partridges Act 1799 | Repealed |
| Sale of Offices Act 1809 | In force |
| Places of Religious Worship Act 1812 | Repealed |
| Apothecaries Act 1815 | |
| North American Fisheries Act 1819 | Repealed |
| Levy of Fines Act 1822 | |
| Juries Act 1825 | |
| Ecclesiastical Leases Act 1836 | In force |
| Metropolitan Police Courts Act 1839 | Repealed |
| The Public Notaries Act 1843 | |
| Commissioners Clauses Act 1847 | In force |
| Summary Jurisdiction Act 1848 | Repealed |
| Larceny Act 1861 | sec 102 |
| Hosiery Manufacture Act 1874 | Repealed |
| Seal Fishery Act 1875 | Repealed |
| Justices Clerks Act 1877 | Repealed |
| Municipal Corporations Act 1882 | Repealed |
| Representation of the People Act 1949 | Repealed |
Most of these have themselves been repealed. The Crown was also prohibited from bringing actions as a common informer. The former penalties were not all abolished but were commuted to £100, later revised to level 3 of the standard scale though the purpose of this provision was obscure as it was thought that not even the Crown could now bring such an action.
Subsequent developments
Qui tam claims were codified in the United States under the False Claims Act, under which Lincoln sought to penalise manufacturers who sold his Army shoddy goods. It saw a revival in the U.S. from 1986 in actions by "whistleblowers". In May 2007 a from the Home Office Ministry of John Reid raised the question of whether members of the public who informed on companies or individuals defrauding the government should be entitled to a reward. It gained the attention of the House on 24 May 2007:
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department : Seizing criminal assets delivers a wide range of benefits, from depriving criminals of capital to reducing the incentives for crime and the harm caused by crime, as well as promoting fairness and confidence in the criminal justice system. In 2006-07 the total amount recouped by all agencies
involved in asset recovery in England, Wales and Northern Ireland was £125 million. This is a five-fold increase over five years. We want to build on this success. The Government are therefore publishing today an Asset Recovery Action Plan. The Action Plan has two purposes. Firstly it sets out robust proposals on how we are to reach our challenging target of recovering £250 million of the proceeds of crime by 2009-10. The Plan goes on to outline, for consultation, policy proposals for taking things further, including some radical ideas to move towards the Government's long term vision of detecting up to £1 billion of criminal assets.
The consultation period will end on 23 November 2007. A copy of the Action Plan is being placed in the Library of the House.
Submissions were obtained from the Fraud Advisory Panel, the Institute of Chartered Accountants, and the Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services, amongst others.