Chapter 15 Key facts checklists
Privacy
● Privacy has traditionally not been directly protected in English law.
● The Human Rights Act 1998 has opened the way for the old equitable action for breach of confidence to be adapted to regulate the publication of private information.
● The art 8 right to respect for private and family life must be balanced with the equally powerful art 10 right to freedom of expression.
● Campbell v MGN (2004) provides a detailed consideration of this area of law by the House of Lords. Here, Lord Nicholls introduced the tort that is now known as ‘misuse of private information’.
● Privacy should be studied in conjunction with Chapter 14, ‘Defamation’.