Freedom of Expression in UK Law

Leading Cases
  • Percy v DPP
    • Queen's Bench Division (Administrative Court)
    • 21 Diciembre 2001

    Where the right to freedom of expression under Article 10 is engaged, as in my view is undoubtedly the case here, it is clear from the European authorities put before us that the justification for any interference with that right must be convincingly established. Article 10(1) protects in substance and in form a right to freedom of expression which others may find insulting. Restrictions under Article 10(2) must be narrowly construed.

    I have no difficulty in principle with the concept that there will be circumstances in which citizens of this country and visiting foreign nationals should be protected from intentionally and gratuitously insulting behaviour, causing them alarm or distress. There may well be a pressing social need to protect people from such behaviour.

  • London Regional Transport v Mayor of London
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • 24 Agosto 2001

    Whether or not undertakings of confidentiality had been signed, both domestic law and Art. 10(2) would recognise the propriety of suppressing wanton or self-interested disclosure of confidential information; but both correspondingly recognise the legitimacy of disclosure, undertakings notwithstanding, if the public interest in the free flow of information and ideas will be served by it.

  • Richard Roberts v R
    • Court of Appeal (Criminal Division)
    • 06 Diciembre 2018

    Paragraph 89 echoes the understanding that the conscientious motives of protestors will be taken into account when they are sentenced for their offences but that there is in essence a bargain or mutual understanding operating in such cases. A sense of proportion on the part of the offenders in avoiding excessive damage or inconvenience is matched by a relatively benign approach to sentencing.

  • R Gallastegui (Appellant) Westminster City Council and Others (Respondent) Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis (First Interested Party) Secretary of State for the Home Department (Second Interested Party)
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • 2013

    The correct general approach to the question of whether an interference with a Convention right is justified is not in doubt.The correct general approach to the question of whether an interference with a Convention right is justified is not in doubt. First, the limitation on the right must be "prescribed by law". First, the limitation on the right must be "prescribed by law".

  • R (Laporte) v Chief Constable of Gloucestershire Constabulary
    • House of Lords
    • 13 Diciembre 2006

    Lord Hewart CJ reflected the then current orthodoxy when he observed in Duncan v Jones [1936] 1 KB 218, 222, that "English law does not recognize any special right of public meeting for political or other purposes". The Human Rights Act 1998, giving domestic effect to articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention, represented what Sedley LJ in Redmond-Bate v Director of Public Prosecutions (1999) 163 JP 789, 795, aptly called a "constitutional shift".

  • Fiona James v Director of Public Prosecutions
    • Queen's Bench Division (Administrative Court)
    • 13 Noviembre 2015

    For some POA offences, the position has been clear for some time. Norwood and Hammond show that these rights and the qualifications to them, and thus the proportionality of the prohibitions or restraints on expression and assembly, form part of the statutory defence that the accused's conduct was reasonable. That is also what should have been decided in Dehal. It is the point on which the issue in Abdul turned in substance, and where the focus of the legal analysis should have been.

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Legislation
  • Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015
    • UK Non-devolved
    • 1 de Enero de 2015
    ... ... 103 (with Sch. 7 paras. 1, 6); S.I. 2017/1179, reg. 3(r) ... 31: Freedom of expression in universities etc ... (1) This section applies to a ... ...
  • Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014
    • UK Non-devolved
    • 1 de Enero de 2014
    ... ... an officer must have particular regard to the rights of freedom of expression and freedom of assembly set out in articles 10 and 11 of the ... ...
  • Human Rights Act 1998
    • UK Non-devolved
    • 1 de Enero de 1998
    ... ... (a) any other right or freedom conferred on him by or under any law having effect in any part of the ... 12: Freedom of expression ... (1) This section applies if a court is considering whether to grant ... ...
  • Bermuda Constitution Order 1968
    • UK Non-devolved
    • 1 de Enero de 1968
    ... ... 8. Protection of freedom of conscience ... (a) Rev. III, p. 119 ... (b) S.I. 1953 II, p ... (d) S.I. 1962 I, p. 1025 ... 9. Protection of freedom of expression ... 10. Protection of freedom of assembly and association ... 11 ... ...
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Books & Journal Articles
  • Against Freedom of Expression
    • No. 33-4, December 1985
    • Political Studies
    This paper states a common western ideal of freedom of expression. Such an ideal is tenable, it is argued, only if its implementation makes possible a ‘sound mass communication’. A communication is...
  • Does Freedom of Expression Cause Less Terrorism?
    • No. 70-1, February 2022
    • Political Studies
    It is often assumed that there is a trade-off between civil rights and national safety although the association is theoretically ambiguous. This article therefore explores this association by estim...
  • Freedom of Expression in Ethiopia: The Jurisprudential Dearth
    • No. 4-2, July 2010
    • Mizan Law Review
    • Gedion Timothewos
    • LL.B (AAU), LL.M (CEU); Addis Ababa University School of Law, Currently on study leave: PhD student, Central European University
    • 201-231
    It is almost a decade and half since freedom of expression has been proclaimed as one of the fundamental rights and freedoms recognized in the FDRE Constitution. However, there is hardly any Ethiop...
  • Comedy as freedom of expression
    • No. 66-2, March 2010
    • Journal of Documentation
    • 279-293
    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the practice of comedians in relation to freedom of expression, so as to throw light on the issue of giving or avoiding offence. Design/methodo...
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Forms
  • Form PF10
    • HM Courts & Tribunals Service court and tribunal forms
    King's Bench forms for use in cases such as personal injury, negligence and breach of contract.
    ... ... to respect for private and family life and the Article 10 right to freedom of expression ... AND UPON IT APPEARING that non-disclosure of the ... ...
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