| 释义 |
breach of confidence
1. The unauthorized disclosure of confidential information. Originally, this referred quite narrowly to information arising from a confidential situation, transaction, or relationship (Duchess of Argyll v Duke of Argyll [1967] Ch 302). However, with the enactment of the Human Rights Act 1998, which gives effect to the provision of the European Convention on Human Rights (art 8) that “Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence”, the courts have extended the tort of breach of confidence to protect privacy (Campbell v Mirror Group Newspapers Ltd [2004] UKHL 22, [2004] AC 457). A pre-existing confidential relationship is no longer required: a duty of confidence is imposed whenever a person receives information he knows or ought to know is fairly and reasonably to be regarded as confidential. The claimant’s article 8 right to privacy must be balanced against the article 10 right to freedom of expression (McKennit v Ash [2006] EWCA Civ 1714). The obligation of confidence has been extended to protect an exclusivity agreement between a celebrity and a magazine (Douglas v Hello! Ltd [2007] UKHL 21, [2008] 1 AC 1). In Hannon v News Group Newspapers Ltd [2014] EWHC 1580 (Ch), [2015] EMLR 1 Mann J stated that he could see no reason in principle why damage to reputation could not be recovered in the context of a privacy claim. The law governing breach of confidence is complex and continues to develop to “reflect changes in society, technology and business practice” (Douglas v Hello! Ltd (No. 1) [2001] QB 967, [2001] 2 WLR 992 (Keene LJ). 2. Failure to observe an injunction granted by the court to prevent such disclosure. The injunction is often granted to protect commercial information or trade secrets but may also be ordered to protect (for example) the privacy of communications made between spouses during marriage or between cohabitants during their period of cohabitation, or (particularly) privacy relating to children, and therefore to their parents. Where information has been disclosed somewhere else in the world (and is therefore available on the Internet), an injunction will be more difficult to obtain; nevertheless, it can still be ordered by a court (PJS (Appellant) v News Group Newspapers Ltd (Respondent) [2016] UKSC 26, 26 May 2016). |