Public Places, Private Lives: Balancing of Privacy and Freedom of Expression in the United Kingdom

摘要

The rights of privacy and expression often conflict. Case lawrnfrom the United Kingdom suggests that the incorporation ofrnthe European Convention on Human Rights into domesticrnlaw has spurred the growth of domestic privacy law at thernexpense of the rights of the press to free expression and, inrnline with prior theory, has also granted greater politicalrnauthority to courts and judges tasked with balancing privacyrnand expression in domestic legal disputes. These shifts inrnprivacy case law may also suggest that incorporation hasrnincreased opportunities for participatory democraticrngovernance by the citizenry, at least through enhanced accessrnto judicial remedies for privacy violations and thernenforcement of Convention rights, as interpreted by thernEuropean Court of Human Rights.