This chapter examines the nature of free speech, first addressing the question of why free speech must be protected. It then discusses Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), media freedom, defamation, criminal offences, privacy, and official secrecy.
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In contrast to the constitutional systems adopted by most western democratic nations, the United Kingdom’s form of governance has traditionally not accepted the principle that certain ‘human rights’ should enjoy a normative legal status that placed them beyond the reach of laws made through the ordinary legislative process. Such ‘civil liberties’ or ‘human rights’ as we possess exist in law at the sufferance of parliamentary majorities. Human rights protection has nonetheless been an important part of the courts’ constitutional role, both in terms of the interpretation of legislation and the development of the common law. The organising principle in respect of civil liberties in Britain is that individuals may engage in any activity not prohibited by statute or common law. In addition, neither other individuals nor government officials may interfere with an individual’s legal entitlements unless they can identify a statutory or common law justification for so doing. This chapter discusses the traditional approach taken by Parliament and the courts to several key areas of what we would now regard as human rights law; the regulation of public protest, the protection of personal privacy, and to certain aspects of freedom of expression
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This chapter presents an overview of the European Convention on Human Rights, an International treaty originating in the reconstruction of Europe’s political order following World War II. The chapter is organised as follows. Section I discusses the main procedural and substantive features of the Convention itself, whilst Section II assesses its status and use in English law up until (approximately) the early-1990s. Section III examines the leading judgments of the European Court on Human Rights in the areas of privacy and freedom of expression. The chapter goes on to consider how the UK constitution’s approach to the issue of civil liberties and human started to change in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Discussion focuses initially on the ways in which domestic courts began to use common law ideas to give increasing effect to the Convention’s provisions. The chapter then examines emerging arguments as to the benefits that might result from Parliament enacting a statute giving Convention articles a superior status to common law rules. The chapter then discusses the re-emergence and consolidation of fundamental human rights as an indigenous principle within the common law, and concludes by analysing the so-called ‘judicial supremacism’ controversy of the early and mid-1990s in which the courts’ increasingly forceful assertion of human rights ideas provoked substantial criticism from Conservative party politicians.
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The Q&A series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions. Each chapter includes typical questions, diagram problem and essay answer plans, suggested answers, notes of caution, tips on obtaining extra marks, the key debates on each topic, and suggestions on further reading. This chapter moves on from the previous one to examine the freedom of expression. Under common law, freedom of speech is guaranteed unless the speaker breaks the law, but this is now reinforced by the right of free expression under the European Convention on Human Rights. The questions here deal with issues such as obscenity law and contempt of court; the Official Secrets Act; freedom of information; data protection; breach of confidence; and whether there is a right of privacy in English law.
