Privacy, third parties and judicial method: Wainwright's legacy of uncertainty. (3rd July 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bennett, Thomas D.C.
• Is Part Of: Journal of media law. Volume 7:Number 2(2015:Dec.)
• Page Start: 251
• Page End: 277
• Publication Date: 2015-07-03
• Subjects: privacy -- third party interests -- incrementalism; Mass media -- Law and legislation -- Periodicals; Telecommunication -- Law and legislation -- Periodicals; 343.41099
• DOI: 10.1080/17577632.2015.1108586
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1757-7632

Abstract

Abstract : A year before the seminal Campbell case, the House of Lords' decision in Wainwright v Home Office emphatically ruled out the recognition of general privacy tort. In so doing, the House aimed to preserve legal certainty by restricting the development of privacy rights in the common law: development was to occur only on a piecemeal, narrowly incremental basis. A dozen years after Wainwright, however, it is evident that this restrictive approach has not secured the certainty desired. This is particularly apparent in the burgeoning doctrine relating to the relevance of the privacy interests of third parties to the determination of claims for misuse of private information. This article scrutinises key cases in that body of doctrine and highlights the novelty of the issues posed and the path taken by the courts in resolving them.