22. The Protection of Human Privacy

2019 ◽  
pp. 695-742
Author(s):  
Simon Deakin ◽  
Zoe Adams
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Communication Technology ◽  
Private Information ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
The Press ◽  
Human Rights Act ◽  
Human Rights Act 1998 ◽  
English Law ◽  
The Law

This chapter discusses violations of human privacy by private individuals and organisations. This is a rapidly evolving area of the law, one which has, like defamation, been influenced to a great extent by developments in communication technology, as well as in human rights law. And like defamation, this area of the law too raises important questions about the role, and conduct, of the press. The discussion in this chapter is divided as follows: (1) the difficulties of defining privacy; (2) the casuistic protection afforded by English law; (3) the protection afforded in the most important types of cases; (4) the growth of breach of confidence after the entry into force of the Human Rights Act 1998 and the emergence in recent years of the ‘distinct’ tort of misuse of private information; (5) Europe and beyond.

1. Introduction, principles, and key concepts

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Maureen Spencer ◽  
John Spencer
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
Human Rights Act ◽  
Human Rights Act 1998 ◽  
English Law ◽  
The Law ◽  
Law Of Evidence

This chapter introduces the principles and key concepts underlying the law of evidence, with an emphasis on criminal evidence. It reviews Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), now part of English law as a result of the Human Rights Act 1998. It concludes by highlighting the importance of analysis of the relevance of the facts in a trial.

16. Invasion of privacy

Tort Law ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 446-481
Author(s):  
Kirsty Horsey ◽  
Erika Rackley
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Private Information ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Free Standing ◽  
Legal Concept ◽  
Invasion Of Privacy ◽  
Human Rights Act ◽  
Human Rights Act 1998 ◽  
The Law ◽  
Right To Information

This chapter examines the nascent ‘tort’ of invasion of privacy. It first considers why no free-standing tort of invasion of privacy exists, before looking at breach of confidence—a legal concept straddling tort and equity and concerned with ‘secrets’ and judicially adapted to protect privacy by developing the new tort of misuse of private information. The chapter then asks whether developments in the law protecting privacy—particularly in the wake of the Human Rights Act 1998—threaten freedom of expression and therefore the general public’s ‘right’ to information, particularly about celebrities, including royalty and politicians.

17. Remedies and limitation

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vera Bermingham ◽  
Carol Brennan
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Private Information ◽  
Committee Report ◽  
History Of ◽  
Human Rights Act ◽  
Human Rights Act 1998 ◽  
English Law ◽  
Developing Area ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Right

Without assuming prior legal knowledge, books in the Directions series introduce and guide readers through key points of law and legal debate. Questions, diagrams, and exercises help readers to engage fully with each subject and check their understanding as they progress. The Calcutt Committee Report on Privacy and Related Matters (1990) defines privacy as ‘the right of the individual to be protected against intrusion into his personal life or affairs, or those of his family, by direct physical means or by publication of information’. While a number of different torts indirectly address wrongful intrusion into another’s privacy, English law has not directly protected privacy in its own right. It was the Human Rights Act 1998 that has made it possible to use breach of confidence in regulating the publication of private information. This chapter looks at the history of the protection of privacy in English law, discusses the current legal approaches to privacy, examines the impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 on this developing area of law, and evaluates English law on privacy in an international context.

14. Privacy

Tort Law ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Steele
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Private Information ◽  
Common Law ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Invasion Of Privacy ◽  
Human Rights Act ◽  
Human Rights Act 1998 ◽  
The Law ◽  
Academic Debate

All books in this flagship series contain carefully selected substantial extracts from key cases, legislation, and academic debate, providing able students with a stand-alone resource. This chapter focuses on the emergence of a new action to protect privacy under the Human Rights Act 1998, with particular reference to unjustified publication of private information. It begins by considering whether privacy is a protected interest at common law and whether privacy must be recognised and given protection through the law of tort. It then examines the tools which have been used in the partial absorption of privacy as a protected interest in common law, citing the provisions of the Human Rights Act 1998 and Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The controversies surrounding disclosure of private information and the power of injunctions are also considered, along with the issue of intrusion as an invasion of privacy.

16. Invasion of privacy

Tort Law ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsty Horsey ◽  
Erika Rackley
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Private Information ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Free Standing ◽  
Legal Concept ◽  
Invasion Of Privacy ◽  
Human Rights Act ◽  
Human Rights Act 1998 ◽  
The Law ◽  
Right To Information

This chapter examines the nascent ‘tort’ of invasion of privacy. It first considers why no free-standing tort of invasion of privacy exists, before looking at breach of confidence—a legal concept straddling tort and equity and concerned with ‘secrets’ and judicially adapted to protect privacy by developing the new tort of misuse of private information. The chapter then asks whether developments in the law protecting privacy—particularly in the wake of the Human Rights Act 1998—threaten freedom of expression and therefore the general public’s ‘right’ to information, particularly about celebrities, including royalty and politicians.

16. Privacy and misuse of private information

2020 ◽  
pp. 387-408
Author(s):  
Carol Brennan ◽  
Vera Bermingham
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Private Information ◽  
Committee Report ◽  
History Of ◽  
Human Rights Act ◽  
Human Rights Act 1998 ◽  
English Law ◽  
Developing Area ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Right

Without assuming prior legal knowledge, books in the Directions series introduce and guide readers through key points of law and legal debate. Questions, diagrams, and exercises help readers to engage fully with each subject and check their understanding as they progress. The Calcutt Committee Report on Privacy and Related Matters (1990) defined privacy as ‘the right of the individual to be protected against intrusion into his personal life or affairs, or those of his family, by direct physical means or by publication of information’. While a number of different torts indirectly address wrongful intrusion into another’s privacy, English law has not directly protected privacy in its own right. It was the Human Rights Act 1998 that has made it possible to use breach of confidence in regulating the publication of private information. This chapter looks at the history of the protection of privacy in English law, discusses the current legal approaches to privacy, examines the impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 on this developing area of law, and evaluates English law on privacy in an international context.

16. Invasion of privacy

2021 ◽  
pp. 449-483
Author(s):  
Kirsty Horsey ◽  
Erika Rackley
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Private Information ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Free Standing ◽  
Legal Concept ◽  
Invasion Of Privacy ◽  
Human Rights Act ◽  
Human Rights Act 1998 ◽  
The Law ◽  
Right To Information

This chapter examines the nascent ‘tort’ of invasion of privacy. It first considers why no free-standing tort of invasion of privacy exists, before looking at breach of confidence—a legal concept straddling tort and equity and concerned with ‘secrets’ and judicially adapted to protect privacy by developing the new tort of misuse of private information. The chapter then asks whether developments in the law protecting privacy—particularly in the wake of the Human Rights Act 1998—threaten freedom of expression and therefore the general public’s ‘right’ to information, particularly about celebrities, including royalty and politicians.

1. Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Andrew L-T Choo
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Circumstantial Evidence ◽  
Law Reform ◽  
Human Rights Act ◽  
Human Rights Act 1998 ◽  
Basic Concepts ◽  
The Law ◽  
Law Of Evidence

Chapter 1 examines a number of basic concepts and distinctions in the law of evidence. It covers facts in issue and collateral facts; relevance, admissibility, and weight; direct evidence and circumstantial evidence; testimonial evidence and real evidence; the allocation of responsibility; exclusionary rules and exclusionary discretions; free(r) proof; issues in criminal evidence; civil evidence and criminal evidence; the implications of trial by jury; summary trials; law reform; and the implications of the Human Rights Act 1998. This chapter also presents an overview of the subsequent chapters.

Regulation

2020 ◽  
pp. 106-130
Author(s):  
Julian Petley
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Press Freedom ◽  
European Convention ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Corporate Power ◽  
Private Lives ◽  
The Press ◽  
Privacy Breach ◽  
Human Rights Act ◽  
Human Rights Act 1998

This chapter examines the laws which have had a particular bearing on the practice of journalism in newspapers in England and Wales in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. These relate to defamation, privacy, breach of confidence, official secrecy and terrorism. In particular it focusses on the recent impact of the European Convention on Human Rights and the Human Rights Act 1998 on how courts have interpreted and applied the various laws affecting press freedom in these particular areas. It argues that whilst much of the press has chafed against laws which prevent it from invading people’s private lives and unjustly defaming them, it has been remarkably insouciant about those which make it difficult to reveal abuses of state and corporate power.

The impact of the Human Rights Act 1998

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Burrows
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Human Rights Act ◽  
Human Rights Act 1998 ◽  
The Subject ◽  
English Law ◽  
The Impact

The enactment of the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA 1998) has raised a number of novel issues for English law. But the impact of the Act on the subject matter of this book has been limited. That impact is best understood by clarifying that there are two main respects in which the Act is relevant to civil wrongs.

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