Legal Case Summary
M v Home Office and another [1994] 1 AC 377
Asylum; judicial review; contempt
Facts
M was a citizen of Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo) who arrived in the UK seeking asylum. His repeated applications were rejected, as were his applications for judicial review. Due to a misunderstanding, the judge mistakenly thought that counsel for the Secretary of State had given an undertaking that M’s removal would be postponed pending consideration of his latest application. M was not eventually disembarked from his flight back to Zaire. Learning of M’s deportation, the judge ordered his return. The Secretary of State, convinced that M’s application for asylum was rightfully rejected, applied for the judge’s injunction order to be set aside and cancelled M’s return. M instituted committal proceedings against the Home Office and the Secretary of State for breaching the undertaking not to remove him.
Issues
Simon Brown J, dismissing M’s motion, found that section 21 of the Crown Proceedings Act 1947 kept the Crown’s immunity from injunction, thus, Crown departments, ministers or officials acting in the course of their duties could not be impleaded for contempt of court. The Court of Appeal partially allowed M’s appeal, finding the Secretary of State guilty of contempt of court. Both sides appealed.
Decision / Outcome
Even before the Crown Proceedings Act 1947 came into force, Crown officials could be personally liable for a tort committed or authorised by them, despite the action being carried out in their official capacity. In other words, injunctions can be granted against Crown officials acting in their official capacity – as authorised by section 31(2) of the Supreme Court Act 1981, albeit only in limited circumstances. Secondly, while the Crown itself cannot be found guilty of contempt of court, a minister in his official capacity can.
Updated 20 March 2026
This case summary remains legally accurate. M v Home Office [1994] 1 AC 377 is good law and the key principles it established — that ministers of the Crown acting in their official capacity can be found in contempt of court, and that injunctions can be granted against Crown officials — remain authoritative.
One point of updated terminology: the article refers to section 31(2) of the Supreme Court Act 1981 as authority for granting injunctions against Crown officials. That Act has since been renamed the Senior Courts Act 1981 by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, though its provisions remain substantively unchanged. References to the Supreme Court Act 1981 in older case reports and academic writing remain valid as references to the same legislation.
The Crown Proceedings Act 1947 remains in force and unamended in the relevant respects. There are no subsequent cases or statutory changes that have displaced or materially altered the principles described in this summary.
