ABSTRACT
William Prosser once wrote about privacy that ‘no other tort has received such an outpouring of comment in advocacy of its existence’.1 Similarly, a wealth of recent departmental and other committee reports has been devoted to the possible introduction of a privacy right into English law.2 The Lord Chancellor’s Consultation Paper has recommended the institution of a civil remedy to protect the right.3 At times during the course of the last two years, the Government appar ently has been on the point of issuing a White Paper with such a proposal, but a nervous administration, fearful of the power of the press, has (at the time of writing) hesitated to take the step. In the meantime press organizations have published Media Freedom and Media Regulation, described as an alternative White Paper, making the case against the introduction of a privacy right.4
