Protection of Personality in the UK












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            * Protection of Personality in the UK
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            On Monday, the 10th of February the Faculty of Law at Charles University in Prague hosted 

            from Professor Robin Callender Smith [ URL "http://www.law.qmul.ac.uk/research/students/40
            the Queen Mary University of London. The topic of the Lecture was 'Protection of Personali
            Development of Privacy from the 1960's to the Present Scandals', and as an ex-journalist, 

            and teacher, Professor Smith was in an excellent position to lecture on the topic.
            The lecture focused on the relationship of the British laws protecting privacy with Europe
            conventions and charters on the subject. Before 2000 there was no law to protect individua

            the UK as such. Lawyers had to perform legal gymnastics with 'breach of confidence' princi
            clients, which was often insufficient. However, with the implementation of the Human Right

            English law in 2000, Article 8, which stipulates the right of the individual to privacy, b
            British law. This has led to many issues in the UK that were outlined by Professor Smith, 
            the battle between tabloids and celebrities, between the right to privacy and public inter

            been the cause of many bloody courtroom battles over the years, reaching a spectacular cli
            that led to the collapse of the News of the World and the highly publicized Leveson inquir
            the implementation of Article 8 was of interest to the News companies, but so was the impl

            Article 10, the counter to Article 8 emphasizing the fundamental importance of freedom of 
            Professor analysed many cases where these two articles had come head to head, for example 
            Edward RockNRoll versus News Group Newspapers 2013, when NGN were stopped from publishing 

            pictures of the celebrity on the grounds that it was a misuse of private information, but 
            his step-children from 'playground bullying', a case that probably would not have been suc
            previous 'breach of confidence' law.

            Another issue raised by Professor Smith was the relationship between the UK legal system a
            conventions. Opinion has been divided with very vocal disagreements between UK judges on h
            the Human Rights Act rulings that come from the High Court in Strasbourg, and their subseq

            court rulings. To what extent should the UK courts be able to interpret the Human Rights a
            and to what extent should it follow the precedents set by Strasbourg? These questions inev
            to the questions of sovereignty and autonomy currently dominating British politics, and sh

            some interesting decisions in the next few years. However, the Professor also forecasted a
            the importance of the Human Rights Act 1998 on English Law, and that in the future the Fun
            Charter may become more influential on British law. This, however remains to be seen.

            The lecture was followed by a short question and answer session, with many people keen to 
            always a good sign. An interesting lecture, on a topic that is becoming increasingly relev
            in the internet dominated world that we live in.

                                                                                                      
                                               Elan Grug Muse is in her second year studying for a BA 
                                               Prague. She is interested in international politics, mu
                                               skills.