Misuse of private information is a new

common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipresen ...

tort A tort is a civil wrong that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with criminal wrongs that are punishable ...

that

English courts The courts of England and Wales, supported administratively by His Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service, are the civil and criminal courts responsible for the administration of justice in England and Wales. The United Kingdom does not have a ...

recognised in ''

Campbell v MGN Ltd was a House of Lords decision regarding human rights and privacy in English law. Facts The British model Naomi Campbell was photographed leaving a rehabilitation clinic after public denials that she was a recovering drug addict. The photograp ...

''. Arising as a branch of the law relating to

breach of confidence The tort A tort is a civil wrong that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with criminal wrongs that are ...

, it has been reinforced by

Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights provides a right to respect for one's "private and family life, his home and his correspondence", subject to certain restrictions that are "in accordance with law" and "necessary in a democratic ...

, supplemented by s. 6 of the

Human Rights Act 1998 The Human Rights Act 1998 (c. 42) is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which received royal assent on 9 November 1998, and came into force on 2 October 2000. Its aim was to incorporate into UK law the rights contained in the European Con ...

, which obliges public institutions (including the courts) not to act inconsistently with Convention rights.

Scope

''Campbell'' was the watershed moment where the tort of "misuse of

private information Privacy (, ) is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves, and thereby express themselves selectively. The domain of privacy partially overlaps with security, which can include the concepts of a ...

" became distinguished in scope from that relating to

, as the former does not require "an initial confidential relationship." In addition, actions for misuse of private information can readily attract tortious damages, while those for breach of confidence may receive damages only as an

equitable remedy Equitable remedies are judicial remedies developed by courts of equity from about the time of Henry VIII to provide more flexible responses to changing social conditions than was possible in precedent-based common law. Equitable remedies were gran ...

within the discretion of the presiding judge. While it will be obvious what may constitute public (as opposed to private) information in most cases, there will be times where it will need to be assessed as to whether disclosure of information would give substantial offence to an ordinary individual, as noted in Australia by Gleeson CJ in 2001: As originally recognized in ''Campbell'', a cause of action was restricted to disclosures of information or activities in which the plaintiff had a

reasonable expectation of privacy Expectation of privacy is a legal test which is crucial in defining the scope of the applicability of the privacy protections of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. It is related to, but is not the same as, a ''right to privacy ...

. Expansion to include bare intrusions into privacy has been foreshadowed, such as where certain photographs are taken in a public place, however English courts are yet to definitively proscribe intrusions upon seclusion. For example, an injunction against the ''

Wolverhampton Express and Star The ''Express & Star'' is a regional evening newspaper in Britain. Founded in 1889, it is based in Wolverhampton, England, and covers the West Midlands county and Staffordshire. Currently edited by Martin Wright, the ''Express & Star'' publis ...

'' was obtained in 2005 by an owner of several homes for troubled children to restrain it from disclosing plans for further homes, even though information was publicly available from searches of

HM Land Registry His Majesty's Land Registry is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's Government, created in 1862 to register the ownership of land and property in England and Wales. It reports to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy ...

records and unredacted minutes of

local authority Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

proceedings. In his judgment, Tugendhat J explained why, in this case, rights under Article 8 overrode competing obligations under

Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights provides the right to Freedom of Expression and Information. A fundamental aspect of this right is the freedom to hold opinions and receive and impart information and ideas, even if the receive ...

relating to

freedom of expression Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...

Other Commonwealth jurisprudence

In addition to the Australian case law drawn upon by ''Campbell'', there has been other jurisprudence arising in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. While the House of Lords followed the model previously adopted by the

High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is Australia's apex court. It exercises Original jurisdiction, original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified within Constitution of Australia, Australia's Constitution. The High Court was established fol ...

, the other two jurisdictions based their approach on the US '' Restatement of Torts (Second)''. It has been noted in Canada that the more principled approach adopted by the English courts post-''Campbell'' may be a better one to follow.

References

{{reflist, 2 Privacy law English privacy law English tort law 2004 establishments in England 2004 in law

Scope

Other Commonwealth jurisprudence

See also

Further reading

References