Breach of Confidence in UK Law

Leading Cases
  • A v B Plc and Another
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • 11 mars 2002

    The court is able to achieve this by absorbing the rights which articles 8 and 10 protect into the long-established action for breach of confidence. This involves giving a new strength and breadth to the action so that it accommodates the requirements of those articles.

  • Imerman v Tchenguiz and Others
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • 29 juillet 2010

    It seems to us, as a matter of principle, that, again in the absence of any defence on the particular facts, a claimant who establishes a right of confidence in certain information contained in a document should be able to restrain any threat by an unauthorised defendant to look at, copy, distribute any copies of, or to communicate, or utilise the contents of the document (or any copy), and also be able to enforce the return (or destruction) of any such document or copy.

  • Lion Laboratories Ltd v Evans
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • 26 mars 1984

    No doubt it is in such circumstances that the defence will usually arise, but it is not difficult to think of instances where, although there has been no wrongdoing on the part of the plaintiff, it may be vital in the public interest to publish a part of his confidential information.

  • Attorney General v Guardian Newspapers Ltd and Others (No. 2)
    • House of Lords
    • 13 octobre 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.

  • Seager v Copydex Ltd
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • 18 avril 1967

    It depends on the broad principle of equity that he who has received information in confidence shall not take unfair advantage of it. He must not make use of it to the prejudice of him who gave it without obtaining his consent. He should go to the public source and get it: or, at any rate, not be in a better position than if he had gone to the public source. He should not get a start over others by using the information which he received in confidence.

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

    The common law or, more precisely, courts of equity have long afforded protection to the wrongful use of private information by means of the cause of action which became known as breach of confidence. The breach of confidence label harks back to the time when the cause of action was based on improper use of information disclosed by one person to another in confidence. The confidence referred to in the phrase 'breach of confidence' was the confidence arising out of a confidential relationship.

See all results
Legislation
  • Freedom of Information Act 2000
    • UK Non-devolved
    • 1 janvier 2000
    ... ... the terms on which it was obtained require it to be held in confidence or while the circumstances in which it was obtained make it reasonable for ... this Act) by the public authority holding it would constitute a breach of confidence actionable by that or any other person ... (2) The duty to ... ...
  • Equality Act 2010
    • UK Non-devolved
    • 1 janvier 2010
    ... ... to contravening this Act includes a reference to committing a breach of an equality clause or rule ... Annotations: Commencement Information ... upon whom it is conferred;(c) the need to maintain public confidence in the qualification ... (9) The appropriate regulator—(a) must not ... ...
  • Patents Act 1977
    • UK Non-devolved
    • 1 janvier 1977
    ... ... in consequence of, the matter having been obtained unlawfully or in breach of confidence by any person—(i) from the inventor or from any other ... ...
  • The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (Commencement No. 13) Order 2018
    • UK Non-devolved
    • 1 janvier 2018
    ... ... (a) defamation; ... (b) malicious falsehood; ... (c) breach of confidence involving publication to the general public; ... (d) misuse ... ...
See all results
Books & Journal Articles
  • Breach of Confidence as a Privacy Remedy in the Human Rights Act Era
    • No. 63-5, September 2000
    • The Modern Law Review
    This article examines the impact of the Human Rights Act (HRA) on the current lack of a remedy for non‐consensual publication of personal information by the media. It argues that the action for bre...
  • Transforming Breach of Confidence? Towards a Common Law Right of Privacy under the Human Rights Act
    • No. 66-5, September 2003
    • The Modern Law Review
    This article examines the development of a remedy for unauthorised publication of personal information that has resulted from the fusion of breach of confidence with the limited ‘horizontal’ applic...
  • New on the net
    • No. 16-6, June 1998
    • The Electronic Library
    • 410-411
    Cyberliability: generic term coined in the late 1990s for various types of legal liability arising from business use of the Internet and e‐mail including cyber‐libel, copyright infringement, breach...
    ... ... Internet and e-mail including cyber-libel, copyright infringement, breach of confidence, negligent virus transmission, inadvertent contracts, ... ...
  • A Potential Framework For Privacy? A Reply To Hello!
    • No. 69-5, September 2006
    • The Modern Law Review
    In Douglas v Hello! Ltd (No 3), the Court of Appeal noted that one ramification of ‘shoehorning’ invasions of privacy into the cause of action of breach of confidence is that ‘it does not fall to b...
    ... ... ‘shoehorning ’ invasions of privacy intothe cause of action of breach of con¢dence is that ‘it does not fall to be treated as a tort under ... ...
See all results
Law Firm Commentaries
See all results
Forms
  • T420)
    • HM Courts & Tribunals Service court and tribunal forms
    Includes the refund form for claimants.
    ... ... paid if the breach of your rights had not occurred and might, depending on the nature of the ... will be treated in the strictest confidence and will not form part of your case. It may be used ... for general ... ...
See all results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT