He turned up along with Julie-Ann Davies, a researcher for the satirical programme The Mark Thomas Comedy Product, who was arrested and questioned under the Official Secrets Act because she had been in communication with Mr Shayler.
Former MI5 agent David Shayler was in the High Court accused of breaching the Official Secrets Act by passing information to a Sunday newspaper.
But a defiant Mr Shayler said he was going to "put the British state on trial".
Mr Shayler, 35, was in court with his girlfriend and ex-MI5 agent Annie Machon, and members of his family.
Arguing he is a genuine "whistleblower" exposing wrongdoing, Mr Shayler will claim his prosecution under the Official Secrets Act is incompatible with the Human Rights Act, which protects free speech.
He said: "I have got nothing to fear, but they have everything to fear."
But prosecutor Nigel Sweeney QC told the court it was "preposterous" that the Human Rights Act would make the criminal trial a "voyage of discovery" into untested realms of the law.
It marks the first time the Official Secrets Act has been challenged in this way.
Telephone taps
Mr Shayler, who was born in Middlesbrough and lives in London, says the disclosures, and a number he has made since then which are not subject to the trial, were made to expose incompetence and malpractice in the security services.
Two of the charges relate to unauthorised disclosure of security service information and the third relates to revealing details of telephone taps.
Each carries a maximum sentence of two years. Whatever the outcome of the case, the Shayler affair is expected to have major repercussions on the Official Secrets Act.
Both the prosecution and the defence could take the human rights issue to judicial review, delaying the case for a year or more.
'Optimistic'
Mr Shayler said: "It's obvious that this trial will be put back as a result of this preliminary hearing, possibly to appeal at the House of Lords.
"If it takes place it will take place after the general election.
"We plan to subpoena Jack Straw and Robin Cook and it is quite obvious they don't want to answer questions in open court right before an election."
Mr Shayler was supported by his mother Anne, father Ron and brother Jeremy as he walked into court.
Also present was former Army colonel Nigel Wylde, who was unsuccessfully prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act last year.
He turned up along with Julie-Ann Davies, a researcher for the satirical programme The Mark Thomas Comedy Product, who was arrested and questioned under the Official Secrets Act because she had been in communication with Mr Shayler.
Intelligence and security expert Professor David Vincent, deputy vice-chancellor of Keele University, said it was the most significant spy trial since that of Clive Ponting in 1985.
Ministry of Defence civil servant Ponting was acquitted of leaking documents which showed Tory ministers had misled the House of Commons about the sinking of the Argentine warship the Belgrano in the Falklands War.