The Supreme Court’s JR38 judgment
— in a few sentences

In the JR38 case, the Supreme Court today dismissed the appeal of a young man who’d argued that his article 8 Convention right to respect for private life was breached where newspapers published, on the police’s request, photos of him apparently taking part in a riot, aged 14. Here’s my legal analysis, in a few sentences, of what the Justices […]

Supreme Court: Publication of child rioter’s photo doesn’t interfere with private life

In the JR38 case, the Supreme Court today unanimously dismissed the appeal of a young man who’d argued that his article 8 Convention right to respect for private life was breached where newspapers published, on the police’s request, photos of him apparently taking part in a riot, aged 14. But the Justices were not unanimous […]

The Leveson Royal Charter deal

Just before Lord Justice Leveson reported in November, I wrote in support of statutory press regulation: Only legislation can require newspapers to submit even to their own enforcement of their own code … What statute – and no other arrangement – can do is set up a genuinely independent regulator: independent not only of the […]

Craig Murray’s Newsnight outburst: the law on anonymity should be tightened

Last night on the BBC’s Newsnight, Craig Murray, the former British ambassador to Uzbekistan, named one of the women whose evidence has led Swedish prosecutors to seek the extradition of Julian Assange. I agree with those who think this was a shocking thing for him to do. It shows no regard for the rights of […]

Spelman injunction lifted

Jonathan Spelman, the 17-year-old rugby international and son of cabinet minister Caroline Spelman, obtained an injunction earlier this month restraining Express Newspapers – specifically, the Daily Star Sunday – from publishing information about him which, it was argued on his behalf, would breach his right to privacy and have a very significant harmful effect on […]

Strasbourg emphasises subsidiarity in freedom of expression rulings

Last week the European Court of Human Rights handed down two important rulings in media privacy cases, Von Hannover v Germany (No. 2) and Axel Springer AG v Germany. These cases, in both of which the Court favoured freedom of expression over privacy, would be interesting in any circumstances. What’s especially striking, though, against the […]

David Allen Green at the privacy and injunctions committee

Yesterday the joint committee of the Lords and Commons on privacy and injunctions took evidence from bloggers including not only the notorious Guido Fawkes, but I’m pleased to say my old Without Prejudice colleague and leading law blogger David Allen Green, who of course was able to give evidence from the point of view not […]

Without Prejudice

In this week’s Without Prejudice podcast, Financial Times General Counsel Tim Bratton joins Charon QC, David Allen Green and me to talk about: contempt of court in the week Twitter typed two fingeredly to the courts privacy law, the media, and that footballer whether we have privacy law, a tort of privacy, or what (including […]

Hemming does his worst

As I think readers will surely know by now, John Hemming MP used Parliamentary privilege today to name the footballer whose anonymity is protected in this privacy case by an injunction, which the High Court decided earlier today to maintain in force. Since then, first Sky News and now the BBC have named the footballer […]