A former Liberal Democrat MP has raised concern after Norwegian journalists were warned they could be jailed if their reporting of a London divorce court battle involving the Norwegian businessman who launched Viking Cruises overstepped the mark.
Torstein Hagen and his estranged wife Ellen-Karine Hagen, who shared a home in London, began fighting at a private trial in the Family Division of the High Court last month.
They reached a settlement more than a week into the hearing - after running up nearly £10 million in lawyers' bills between them. Lawyers said detail of the agreement would not be revealed.
The judge overseeing the trial has made an order which allows the estranged couple to be named in media reports, and some detail reported, but bars publication of the parties' financial information.
Mrs Justice Roberts' order warned journalists that they could be jailed if they revealed financial information aired during the dispute.
Lawyers involved said the order applied to Norwegian journalists. A lawyer representing Mr Hagen personally warned two Norwegian newspaper reporters covering the trial that they could be jailed if they breached any of the order's terms
Ex-MP John Hemming, who campaigns for improvements in the family justice system, suggested that the approach was heavy-handed.
"There's something not right about a judge in England telling foreign journalists, who work outside the legal jurisdiction of England and Wales, what they can and cannot say," he said.
"Consider what's happening in Turkey at the moment. What would we say if a judge in Turkey threatened British journalists with jail in similar circumstances?
"I don't think this shows British justice in a good light.
"The reality is that any penalty for any breach of the order would be hard to enforce against a Norwegian journalist based in Norway. A Norwegian journalist found to be in contempt of court by a judge in England could be arrested if they returned to England, I suppose."
Reporters Eystein Røssum and Anders Haga, who work for Bergen-based newspaper Bergens Tidende - The Bergen Times - had covered the trial.
Bergens Tidende Editor-in-chief Oyulf Hjertenes said he had been surprised by the jail threat.
"Bergens Tidende will follow the instructions from the judge," said Mr Hjertenes.
"That said, it has been a big surprise for us being threatened with jail for doing our job.
"We are not used to this level of aggression from the judicial system, not in Norway, nor in other Western countries.
"Transparency and freedom of speech are pivotal parts of the judicial system in a free democracy.
"Transparency makes sure that the public can hold the courts accountable.
"The British judicial system should defend these basic democratic principles, not attack them."
Two of the most senior family court judges in England and Wales are at odds over how much the public should be told about people involved in big-money divorce battles.
Mr Justice Holman, who analyses cash fights between separated couples at public hearings, says there is a ''pressing need'' for more openness.
But Mr Justice Mostyn, who hears cases at private hearings, says such disputes are ''quintessentially private business''.
Both judges sit in the Family Division of the High Court, where big-money divorce fights are analysed, and are based at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.
They have outlined their thoughts in rulings on cases.
Indications show other judges based in the Family Division of the High Court agree with Mr Justice Mostyn.