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Category: ECHR

Article 10 and the Duke of Brunswick

11 March, 200925 August, 2020
| 10 Comments
| Defamation Bill 2006, ECHR, Freedom of Expression, Multiple publication

Duke of Brunswick, originally via wikipedia, but now hosted locallyWilliam VIII, Duke of Brunswick (pictured left; 1806-1884) was ruling duke of the Duchy of Brunswick from 1830 until his death. A famous eccentric, he bequeathed at least two interesting events to history. First, he lost a famous chess game to Paul Morphy (the Bobby Fischer of his era). Second, he won an infamous libel appeal which now governs internet publication at English and Irish law.

The rule in Duke of Brunswick v Harmer (1849) 14 QB 185 is that each individual publication of a libel gives rise to a separate cause of action, subject to its own limitation period; it has been followed at the highest levels (Berezovsky v Michaels [2000] UKHL 25 (11 May 2000); Dow Jones v Gutnick (2002) 210 CLR 575, [2002] HCA 56 (10 December 2002)) and in the online context (Godfrey v Demon Internet Ltd [2001] QB 201, [1999] EWHC QB 244 (26 March 1999); Dow Jones v Gutnick again). US law is different: a defamatory publication gives rise to a single cause of action for libel, which accrues at the time of the original publication, and that the statute of limitations runs from that date (see, eg, Gregoire v GP Putnam’s Sons 81 NE 2d 45 (1948)).…

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ECHR on Arts 6, 8 and 10

6 February, 20095 February, 2009
| 1 Comment
| ECHR, Freedom of Expression, prior restraint, Privacy

Logo of the Council of Europe.The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) was promulgated by the Council of Europe in 1950. The European Court of Human Rights was established under that Convention to enforce the rights protected by it, and it has recently handed down three very interesting judgments concerning Articles 6 (fair trial), 8 (privacy), and 10 (speech).

Article 6(1) provides that

… everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law. …

ECHR blog brings news of Application no 22330/05 Olujic v Croatia (05/02/2009), in which adverse public comments by three judges in advance of hearing a case against the applicant denied him a fair hearing within the meaning of Article 6. What makes the case all the more interesting is that Olujic had been President of the Supreme Court, the case concerned his dismissal from the bench for publicly fraternising with known criminals, the three judges had publicly and adversely commented about this after the allegations had been made, and one had been a rival candidate for the Presidency of the Court.

Article 8(1) provides:

Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.

…

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Recent speech cases

28 January, 200927 January, 2009
| No Comments
| ECHR, Freedom of Expression, US Supreme Court

Cover of From a European Court of Human Rights press release:

Orban v France (application no. 20985/05)

The Court held unanimously that there had been a violation of Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights on account of the applicants’ conviction for, among other offences, publicly defending war crimes, following publication of the book Services Spéciaux Algérie 1955-1957 (“Special Services: Algeria 1955-1957”) …

The Court considered that the applicants’ conviction amounted to interference with their right to freedom of expression. The interference had been prescribed by French law and had pursued the legitimate aim of preventing disorder or crime. The Court stressed above all that it was not for it to rule on the constituent elements of the offence of publicly defending war crimes, its role being confined to ascertaining whether the applicants’ conviction on account of the publication of the book in question could be said to have been “necessary in a democratic society”.

On the question whether the interference had been “necessary in a democratic society”, the Court observed first of all that the authorities had had only a limited margin of appreciation, circumscribed by the interest of a democratic society in enabling the press to impart information and ideas on all matters of public interest and guaranteeing the public’s right to receive them.

…

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Hi there! Thanks for dropping by. I’m Eoin O’Dell, and this is my blog: Cearta.ie – the Irish for rights.


“Cearta” really is the Irish word for rights, so the title provides a good sense of the scope of this blog.

In general, I write here about private law, free speech, and cyber law; and, in particular, I write about Irish law and education policy.


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