Abstract:
The New Zealand Law Commission has recommended that the tort of invasion of privacy should be left to develop at common law as it is. It also recommended that any recognition and development of a tort of intrusion into solitude, seclusion and private affairs should similarly be left to the common law. In this article we consider further developments that might occur in the private fact/public disclosure form of the tort including such issues as the time at which the reasonable expectation of privacy should arise, whether the highly offensive test is the better test, whether a plaintiff need be identifiable and, if so, to whom, and the impact plaintiff culpability might have on the elements of the tort. We then consider possible further common law developments beyond the disclosure tort. In particular, we ask whether there should be intrusion, appropriation of image and false light torts, along US lines. We argue that a single tort that addresses the variety of privacy interests would be too unwieldy