The risk that evidence in subpoenaed documents would be prejudicial to a party at trial is not relevant to the question whether there is a legitimate forensic purpose in seeking access to those documents; that question arises at a later stage under s 135 of the Evidence Act 2008. Except where a subpoena is plainly too broad and amounts to a fishing expedition, a judge should normally inspect subpoenaed documents before making a final decision on whether to grant access. The proposition in Messade v Baires that the court should determine legitimate forensic purpose without inspecting the documents is too broadly expressed.
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