Separate development or convergence, privacy and defamation

lons3

Where can I find articles on the separate development v convergence of either privacy or defamation?

hullaballoo

If we're doing your homework for you, where do we send our invoices?

You need to research the question yourself. There may be an article or two available on Westlaw etc. but it sounds like the type of question that your lecturer is looking for your own research.

My starting point would be whether there is any such right as privacy and if so, where and when did it come from?

lons3

It's surprisingly not homework i've just seen it used as an example of the 'separate development' discussion in an article but yet the author gave no examples of where there is any discussion on the 'separate development' of privacy law and HRA law or the law of defamation and human rights law. I can't find any articles on them either so I'm checking to see whether i've missed the articles or the cases or whether this is just the author's opinion and there is no actual evidence to back it up. if it was homework i'm assuming it would be easier to find.

hullaballoo

I don't believe that this isn't related to college course work. However, I'll take the bait.

The right to privacy is relatively new. It was created here under the doctrine of unenumerated constitutional rights in the 1960s, I think. On the other hand, defamation is an ancient common law tort, attested as early as the second century as a Roman edict. It has been around as long as advanced civilisation, essentially.

As such, it is not conceivable that there could have been anything but divergent development of the doctrines. Ideologically, the two are distinct principles: on the one hand you have a remedy against a wrong (the defamatory statement) on the other, you have a pre-emptive right to privacy. Enforcing that right is what is problematic because often, once the right has been breached, the protection of the right is lost in its totality. In other words, if there is a breach of privacy by way of a revelation about someone for example, it is almost impossible for that person to get restitution.

There may be a crossover between the two principles from the perspective of an interference with a person's right to his good name and, by corollary, maintaining their privacy? I cannot see any intrinsic link between the two. Can you provide a source for the theory that there is convergence or otherwise between privacy and defamation?

Am I on the right track here or are you asking something different?

lons3

hullaballoo wrote: »

I don't believe that this isn't related to college course work. However, I'll take the bait.

The right to privacy is relatively new. It was created here under the doctrine of unenumerated constitutional rights in the 1960s, I think. On the other hand, defamation is an ancient common law tort, attested as early as the second century as a Roman edict. It has been around as long as advanced civilisation, essentially.

As such, it is not conceivable that there could have been anything but divergent development of the doctrines. Ideologically, the two are distinct principles: on the one hand you have a remedy against a wrong (the defamatory statement) on the other, you have a pre-emptive right to privacy. Enforcing that right is what is problematic because often, once the right has been breached, the protection of the right is lost in its totality. In other words, if there is a breach of privacy by way of a revelation about someone for example, it is almost impossible for that person to get restitution.

There may be a crossover between the two principles from the perspective of an interference with a person's right to his good name and, by corollary, maintaining their privacy? I cannot see any intrinsic link between the two. Can you provide a source for the theory that there is convergence or otherwise between privacy and defamation?

Am I on the right track here or are you asking something different?

It is related to college work as i'm a student but it's not an exact question I was handed. It was part of one of the articles I was reading for an essay. I wanted to know if the author is right or not and I can't find any cases or articles where they actually discuss this.

Sorry I haven't been very clear it's actually two separate questions.
1. Are there any articles or cases where they discuss if the law of defamation should be developed separately to the HRA or whether the law of defamation and the HRA should be converged.

2. I don't know why I wrote law of privacy there is no such thing.

hullaballoo

lons3 wrote: »

2. I don't know why I wrote law of privacy there is no such thing.

I think there is such a thing.

In Kennedy & Anor. v. Ireland [1987] I.R. 587 Hamilton P. stated (at page 592):-

"Though not specifically guaranteed by the Constitution the right of privacy is one of the fundamental personal rights of the citizen which flow from the Christian and democratic nature of the State. It is not an unqualified right. Its exercise may be restricted by the constitutional rights of others, or by the requirements of the common good and it is subject to the requirements of public order and morality."

Anyway, it's not a fully developed right here and I wouldn't be advising anyone to bring a case for a breach of it any time soon.

lons3

hullaballoo wrote: »

I think there is such a thing.

In Kennedy & Anor. v. Ireland [1987] I.R. 587 Hamilton P. stated (at page 592):-

"Though not specifically guaranteed by the Constitution the right of privacy is one of the fundamental personal rights of the citizen which flow from the Christian and democratic nature of the State. It is not an unqualified right. Its exercise may be restricted by the constitutional rights of others, or by the requirements of the common good and it is subject to the requirements of public order and morality."

Anyway, it's not a fully developed right here and I wouldn't be advising anyone to bring a case for a breach of it any time soon.

Yeah i was also thinking that it was more of a right than a branch of law

lons3

wrong thread i think!

Bepolite

Sorry Lons.

Edit: Deleted there and moved to correct thread. Sorry again.