''Kaye v Robertson''

991 Year 991 (Roman numerals, CMXCI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. Events * March 1: In Rouen, Pope John XV ratifies the first Peace and Truce of God, Truce of God, between Æthelred the Unready and Richard I o ...

FSR 62 is a case in

English law English law is the common law list of national legal systems, legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly English criminal law, criminal law and Civil law (common law), civil law, each branch having its own Courts of England and Wales, ...

, expressing the view that there is no

right to privacy The right to privacy is an element of various legal traditions that intends to restrain governmental and private actions that threaten the privacy of individuals. Over 185 national constitutions mention the right to privacy. Since the globa ...

in English

common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...

Facts

The case involved actor Gorden Kaye, who had suffered serious head injuries when a plank smashed through his car windscreen in the

Burns' Day storm The Burns' Day Storm (also known as Cyclone Daria) was an extremely violent windstorm that took place on 25–26 January 1990 over North-Western Europe. It is one of the strongest European windstorms on record and caused many fatalities in the ...

of January 1990. While he was recovering from brain surgery, two journalists from the ''

Sunday Sport The ''Sunday Sport'' is a British tabloid newspaper that was founded by David Sullivan in 1986. It mainly publishes images of topless female glamour models, and is well-known for publishing sensationalised, fictionalised, and satirical con ...

'' posed as doctors and took photographs of him in his room at the hospital. Kaye attempted to obtain an order to restrain publication of the photographs.

Judgment

A friend of Kaye had been granted an interlocutory

injunction An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a special court order compelling a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. It was developed by the English courts of equity but its origins go back to Roman law and the equitable rem ...

preventing the editor (Anthony Robertson) and the ''Sunday Sport'' from using the material; they appealed. Lord Justice Glidewell said, "It is well known that in English law there is no right to privacy, and accordingly there is no right of action for breach of a person's privacy. The facts of the present case are a graphic illustration of the desirability of Parliament considering whether and in what circumstances statutory provision can be made to protect the privacy of individuals."Lord Justice Glidewill, Kaye v Robertson, Times 21 March 1990, (1991) FSR 62 Glidewell LJ in the Court of Appeal. As quoted by Sam Makkan,
Privacy, Parliament & the Judiciary (the privacy ping pong)
, published by Act Now Training. In the absence of the right to privacy, Kaye's solicitors Wright Webb Syrett based their claim on

libel Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...

malicious falsehood Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...

, trespass to the person and

passing off Passing off is a common law tort which can be used to enforce unregistered trade mark rights. The tort of passing off protects the Goodwill (accounting), goodwill of a trader from misrepresentation. The law of passing off prevents one trader f ...

. The

Court of Appeal An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to Hearing (law), hear a Legal case, case upon appeal from a trial court or other ...

ruled that none of these torts was applicable except malicious falsehood, and on this basis, the only remedy available was that the newspaper was prohibited from stating any inference that Kaye had consented to the story.

Notes

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External links

Summary at the University of Edinburgh AHRC/SCRIPT centre
English privacy case law 1991 in United Kingdom case law Court of Appeal (England and Wales) cases

Facts

Judgment

See also

Notes

External links