Breach of confidence v Public interest

Prince of Wales v Associated Newspapers Ltd CA TLR 28 December

These well-publicised proceedings arose out of the practice of the Prince of Wales over the last 30 years to make a handwritten journal recording his views and impressions on completing a foreign visit. On his return from Hong Kong in 1993, the journal he had written was, upon his instructions, photocopied by Ms Sarah Goodall, who was employed in his private office until 2000, and circulated in confidence to between 50 and 75 people, including politicians, journalists and actors. Ms Goodall’s contract of employment placed her under a duty of confidence. However, in May 2005 she made unauthorised disclosure of the Prince’s journals to Associated Newspapers. Even though the Prince’s solicitors informed the defendant that the journals were private and confidential and had been removed from the Prince’s office in breach of trust, the Mail on Sunday proceeded to publish extracts from the journal. In upholding the summary judgment granted for breach of confidence and infringement of copyright, the Court of Appeal held that the test to be applied when considering if it was necessary to restrict freedom of expression in order to prevent disclosure of information received in confidence was whether in all the circumstances it was in the public interest that the duty of confidence should be breached. Both the nature of the information and of the relationship of confidence under which it was received weighed heavily in favour of the Prince. The significance of the interference with article 8 rights effected by the newspaper’s publication of information from the journal outweighed the significance of the interference with article 10 rights that would have been involved had the newspaper been prevented from publishing that information. The Prince had an unanswerable claim for breach of privacy, and when the breach of a confidential relationship was added to the balance, his case was overwhelming.