''Kaye v Robertson''
991FSR 62 is a case in
English law, expressing the view that there is no
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 ...
right to privacy in English law.
Facts
The case involved actor
Gorden Kaye
Gordon Irving Kaye(7 April 194123 January 2017), known professionally as Gorden Kaye, was an English actor, best known for playing womanising café owner René Artois in the television comedy series Allo 'Allo!''.
Early life
Kaye was born o ...
, who had suffered serious head injuries when a plank smashed through his car windscreen in the
Burns' Day storm of January 1990. While he was recovering from brain surgery, two journalists from the ''
Sunday Sport
The ''Sunday Sport'' is a British tabloid newspaper that was founded by David Sullivan in 1986. It mainly publishes images of topless female glamour models, and is well known for publishing sensationalized, fictionalized, and satirical conten ...
'' posed as doctors and took photographs of him in his room at the hospital. Kaye attempted to obtain an order to restrain publication of the photographs.
Judgment
A friend of Kaye had been granted an interlocutory
injunction preventing the editor (Anthony Robertson) and the ''Sunday Sport'' from using the material; they appealed.
Lord Justice Glidewell said, "It is well known that in English law there is no right to privacy, and accordingly there is no right of action for breach of a person's privacy. The facts of the present case are a graphic illustration of the desirability of Parliament considering whether and in what circumstances statutory provision can be made to protect the privacy of individuals."
[Lord Justice Glidewill, Kaye v Robertson, Times 21 March 1990, (1991) FSR 62 Glidewell LJ in the Court of Appeal. As quoted by Sam Makkan,]
Privacy, Parliament & the Judiciary (the privacy ping pong)
, published by Act Now Training.
In the absence of the right to privacy, Kaye's solicitors
Wright Webb Syrett based their claim on
libel,
malicious falsehood,
trespass to the person
Trespass is an area of tort law broadly divided into three groups: trespass to the person, trespass to chattels, and trespass to land.
Trespass to the person historically involved six separate trespasses: threats, assault, battery, wounding, ...
and
passing off
Passing off is a common law tort which can be used to enforce unregistered trade mark rights. The tort of passing off protects the goodwill of a trader from misrepresentation.
The law of passing off prevents one trader from misrepresenting go ...
. The
Court of Appeal ruled that none of these torts was applicable except malicious falsehood, and on this basis, the only remedy available was that the newspaper was prohibited from stating any inference that Kaye had consented to the story.
See also
*
Privacy in English law
*''
Wainwright v Home Office''
Notes
{{reflist
External links
Summary at the University of Edinburgh AHRC/SCRIPT centre
English privacy case law
1991 in United Kingdom case law
Court of Appeal (England and Wales) cases