Mr Justice Eady has defended the judiciary against accusations of “judge-made” privacy law.
Mr Justice Eady has defended the judiciary against accusations of “judge-made” privacy law.
Some sections of the press have mounted a campaign against judges, particularly Eady J, for what they perceive as their hardline approach to privacy law. Last November, Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre accused Eady J of using the Human Rights Act to “bring in a privacy law by the back door”.
In a speech to the Society of Editors, Dacre castigated the “arrogant and amoral judgments...of one man...who has, again and again....found against newspapers and their age-old freedom to expose the moral shortcomings of those in high places”.
Speaking at the Justice-Thomson Reuters conference last week, however, Eady J said the reality was that there have been few contested privacy claims in recent years and none last year.
He noted that the media had sometimes vented their frustrations against judges through personal abuse.
