ON THIS day 25 years ago: FOUR newspaper editors pleaded guilty to summonses of unlawfully publishing excessive details of a Supreme Court divorce case, in the first prosecution of its kind in Hong Kong.
The defendants were the editors of the Hong Kong Standard, Ching Po Daily, Kung Sheung Daily News and Chinese Evening News.
The defendants admitted to having published in January 1969 details of the divorce case which were in excess of what was permitted by the Judicial Proceedings Ordinance.
The 1955 ordinance aimed to protect public morals by regulating the publication of reports of judicial proceedings.
The director of public prosecution told the court the law was intended to put a stop to the thrusting of sordid details of malicious cases upon the public.
Solicitors for the four editors expressed the defendants' regrets to the court, saying the publication was due to carelessness and ignorance.