R (Daly) v Home Secretary [2001] UKHL 26

Court: House of Lords

Facts: The Home Secretary issued a directive requiring prisoners to be removed from their cells during routine searches, which included examining legal correspondence on the suspicion that it contained criminal content. Daly sought judicial review, arguing that these searches violated his common law right to the confidentiality of privileged legal correspondence. It is important to note that this case did not involve Convention rights, as the Human Rights Act was not in effect at the time of the events.

Issue: Whether the policy requiring the examination of privileged legal correspondence infringed upon Daly's common law right.

Held: The House of Lords allowed the appeal, ruling that the policy infringed Daly's common law right.

Key Judicial Statement: Lord Bingham stated that while the policy could be justified as a necessary response to maintain security and prevent crime, it ultimately infringed on a prisoner’s common law right to privilege. He noted that under the HRA, "domestic courts must themselves form a judgment whether a convention right has been breached."

💡Leveluplaw: underscored the importance of common law protections for human rights and established a framework for considering the balance between security measures in prisons and the confidentiality of legal correspondence. Lord Steyn's analysis highlighted the differences between rationality and proportionality in judicial review, indicating that the latter requires a more nuanced assessment of interests and considerations.