New Zealand's New 'Right"? The Tort of Privacy and the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990

Abstract

The New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 (NZBORA) and its relationship to the tort of privacy is an issue yet to be fully explored. Since the recent case of Hosking v Runting, the tort has been laid out in a generally accepted form, but the analysis accompanying the set up of the tort in subsequent case law, has neglected various issues in relation to NZBORA. It remains unclear whether NZBORA should apply to the tort at all, and if it does, how the competing considerations of privacy and freedom of expression are to be defined and balanced. This paper submits that privacy should be included as a right in New Zealand under s 28 NZBORA, and therefore should be balanced horizontally against the right to freedom of expression