Her Majesty's Attorney-General in and for the United Kingdom

The case before the High Court of Australia involved Her Majesty's Attorney-General in and for the United Kingdom as the appellant and Heinemann Publishers Australia as the respondent. The dispute concerned the enforceability of foreign penal or public laws within Australia, specifically whether an Australian court could inquire into the public interest of the United Kingdom in relation to a publication.

The central legal issue before the High Court was whether an Australian court could, or should, determine whether the publication of certain material was contrary to the public interest of the United Kingdom. This question arose in the context of whether a foreign government could overcome the unenforceability of its penal or public laws in an Australian court by demonstrating detriment to its public interest. The court was also required to consider the applicability of the principle of non-inquiry into the transactions of foreign sovereign states to matters of domestic public interest concerning a foreign government.

The court considered the reasoning of McHugh J in the Court of Appeal, who held that for the appellant to succeed, it would need to persuade the Australian court that the publication was contrary to the public interest of Britain. McHugh J found this to be an "embarrassing exercise" for which there was no precedent, suggesting that such matters should be addressed through legislative means or international agreements rather than judicial inquiry. While acknowledging the argument that the British Government had initiated the proceedings and accepted the jurisdiction of the Australian court, the appellant maintained, in the alternative, that McHugh J's proposition was correct in principle. This proposition, it was argued, correctly placed the onus on foreign governments to seek legislative solutions or engage in treaty-making for the enforcement of their public laws, thereby avoiding judicial entanglement in the domestic public interest concerns of foreign states.