Confidential Information in UK Law

Leading Cases
  • Attorney General v Guardian Newspapers Ltd and Others (No. 2)
    • House of Lords
    • 13 Octubre 1988

    I start with the broad general principle (which I do not intend in any way to be definitive) that a duty of confidence arises when confidential information comes to the knowledge of a person (the confidant) in circumstances where he has notice, or is held to have agreed, that the information is confidential, with the effect that it would be just in all the circumstances that he should be precluded from disclosing the information to others.

    But it is well settled that a duty of confidence may arise in equity independently of such cases; and I have expressed the circumstances in which the duty arises in broad terms, not merely to embrace those cases where a third party receives information from a person who is under a duty of confidence in respect of it, knowing that it has been disclosed by that person to him in breach of his duty of confidence, but also to include certain situations, beloved of law teachers - where an obviously confidential document is wafted by an electric fan out of a window into a crowded street, or when an obviously confidential document, such as a private diary, is dropped in a public place, and is then picked up by a passer-by.

    It is that the principle of confidentiality only applies to information to the extent that it is confidential. In particular, once it has entered what is usually called the public domain (which means no more than that the information in question is so generally accessible that, in all the circumstances, it cannot be regarded as confidential) then, as a general rule, the principle of confidentiality can have no application to it.

  • Michael Douglas (1st Respondent) Catherine Zeta-Jones (2nd Respondent) Nothern & Shell Plc (3rd Respondent) v Hello Ltd (1st Appellant) Hola S.A. (2nd Appellant) Eduardo Sanchez Junco (3rd Appellant)
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • 18 Mayo 2005

    Insofar as a photograph does more than convey information and intrudes on privacy by enabling the viewer to focus on intimate personal detail, there will be a fresh intrusion of privacy when each additional viewer sees the photograph and even when one who has seen a previous publication of the photograph, is confronted by a fresh publication of it.

  • Campbell v MGN Ltd
    • House of Lords
    • 06 Mayo 2004

    Now the law imposes a 'duty of confidence' whenever a person receives information he knows or ought to know is fairly and reasonably to be regarded as confidential. The continuing use of the phrase 'duty of confidence' and the description of the information as 'confidential' is not altogether comfortable. Information about an individual's private life would not, in ordinary usage, be called 'confidential'. The essence of the tort is better encapsulated now as misuse of private information.

    Accordingly, in deciding what was the ambit of an individual's 'private life' in particular circumstances courts need to be on guard against using as a touchstone a test which brings into account considerations which should more properly be considered at the later stage of proportionality. Essentially the touchstone of private life is whether in respect of the disclosed facts the person in question had a reasonable expectation of privacy.

  • Faccenda Chicken Ltd v Fowler
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • 05 Diciembre 1985

    First there is information which, because of its trivial character or its easy accessibility from public sources of information, cannot be regarded by reasonable persons or by the law as confidential at all. ' The servant is at liberty to impart it during his service or afterwards to anyone he pleases, even his master's competitor.

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Legislation
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Books & Journal Articles
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Law Firm Commentaries
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Forms
  • Confidential information
    • HM Courts & Tribunals Service court and tribunal forms
    Forms relating to adoption, including those to request adoption, placement and parental orders.
  • Application for permission to remove a child from the United Kingdom (Section 28 Adoption and Children Act 2002)
    • HM Courts & Tribunals Service court and tribunal forms
    Forms relating to adoption, including those to request adoption, placement and parental orders.
    ... ... all or part of the fee, you should contact the court for information ... You may need to pay a fee with your application. You should read ... information confidential. The details of the proposed travel should be set out in a separate ... ...
  • Apply to become someone's deputy (make a declaration)
    • HM Courts & Tribunals Service court and tribunal forms
    Court of Protection forms including the COP1 application to make decisions on someone's behalf.
    ... ... I will keep the person’s financial and ... personal information confidential (unless ... there is a good reason that requires me to ... ...
  • Form N9D
    • HM Courts & Tribunals Service court and tribunal forms
    County Court forms including the N1 money claim form.
    ... ... The court cannot trace ... your case without this information ... How to fill in this form ... • Set out your defence in section 1 ... Community legal advice is a free confidential service, ... funded by legal aid. They can help you find the information ... ...
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