Course Catalogue

View Specification Document | Reading List

The course will examine the law of free speech (or freedom of expression) in the United Kingdom. In particular, it will examine the law of: obscene publications, breach of confidence, official secrecy, political libel, political advertising and broadcasting, offensive and hate speech, and online speech and online safety. The focus is on the law of the United Kingdom (as influenced by article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights) but, where appropriate, that law will be examined in comparative perspective, the principal point of comparative reference being the US and its jurisprudence of the First Amendment.

The focus will be on current law, but the course will place its examination of the law in historical context. As such, the course will consider where the idea of free speech came from, who promoted it, and why they did so, asking why we protect free speech in the first place, and examining whether it is plausible to distinguish speech from behaviour, action or conduct.

Ten weekly two-hour seminars

This course is only available to LLB students.

None

None

Students will be required to submit two essays.

The first, worth 20% of the overall credit for the course, will be both formative and summative. This will be a 1500-word essay.

The second, worth 80% of the overall credit for the course, will be a summative essay of 3500 words.

The course aims are:

■ To explore where the idea of free speech comes from and why free speech is a fundamental, constitutional, or human right in liberal legal systems; 

■ To investigate the extent to which and the ways in which statute and common law protect free speech in the United Kingdom; 

■ To analyse a series of legal controversies relating to free speech in the United Kingdom, and to understand these controversies in comparative perspective; 

■ To assess the impact and influence of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights on the law relating to free speech in the United Kingdom; 

■ To evaluate the strengths and limitations of arguments relating to free speech in modern law.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Explain the emergence and development of free speech as a legal and constitutional idea in the United Kingdom; 

■ Assess the contributions that both statute and the common law have made to the protection of free speech in UK law;

■ Write critically about the impact and influence which the European Convention on Human Rights has had on the law relating to freedom of expression in the United Kingdom; 

■ Compare UK law on freedom of expression with aspects of US Constitutional Law arising under the First Amendment and evaluate UK law in the light of insights drawn from other jurisdictions, such as the US, Canada, Australia, and Israel.