Development of the Right to Privacy in the Uk

Law

Name

Institution

ABSTRACT

It is certainly true that United Kingdom does not have common law action for privacy. This was confirmed in the case of Wainwright v Home Office where the Court of Appeal and the House of Lords unanimously rejected the County court’s holding that a claim of right to privacy was actionable in UK courts as provided for under article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights and pursuant to United Kingdom’s obligations as provided for under article 6 of the Human Rights Act, 1998.

Nevertheless, the absence of a common law action of privacy does not connote that right to privacy is unprotected in United Kingdom. Despite what Basil et al, have described as ‘timidity of judges’ to recognise a right to privacy claim, United Kingdom’s courts have demonstrated immense commitment to protecting the right. The enactment of the Human Rights Act, 1998 witnessed UK domesticate the ECHR.ECHR creates obligations for state parties to recognise and protect among other rights, the right to privacy. The creation of these obligations has witnessed UK’s courts tremendously develop the law on privacy through modifying existing torts to accommodate claims of privacy. However, according to the opinion of several scholars and some judges in particular cases, this protection is largely inadequate. There is need for more developments in the privacy law and more specifically, an urge to recognise a claim for privacy under the law.

This essay seeks to explore the development of the right to privacy in the United Kingdom as well as examine how right to privacy is protected in the United Kingdom. The first part of this essay will explore the international definition of the right to privacy and the accruing obligations to state parties as provided for under the international law. The second part will explore the protection of the right to privacy in the context of the United Kingdom and the developments that have been made to the existing law to ease this...