Publication of the book Protection of personal rights in Common law and Czech law

The publication presents the complex introduction to the area of protection of personal rights in the Common law, especially in English law, Commonwealth countries and USA that has not been presented yet for the Czech legal professionals. It explains theoretical concept of the Common law and its background for the purpose of explanation of differences of examined legal orders. The institute is explained on the key historical case law that led to establish the Common law principles. The publication uses the current and topical legal cases and problems that the orders face in the 21st Century.

The aim of the publication is to present the comparative comparison of the legal institute of protection of personal rights in two legal systems, in the Common law and in the Continental law (Civil Law) with the Czech legal order as a representative. The comparison is dealt systematically on the legal grounding of the personality protection and on the concept of the interpretation in both legal systems. On the basis of the extract of general conception, the protection of single personal attributes is presented, among them honour and dignity, privacy, harassment, image and personal data. Due to the specific feature of the Common law which protects each personal aspects through the specific claims – torts, the presentation is divided into categories according to the torts.

The presentation is carried out the systematic, historical and comparative methodology. The historical development is important for correct understanding of the protection not only from the material perspective of law but also from the procedure. The systematic and teleological reading is focused on the legislation and case law in set jurisdictions. The comparative methodology laid down the grounds for assessment of conformity and distinctions of examined legal orders.

Explanation of single areas of protected aspects of the personality is based on researched current legal cases which adjust the development of the legal order to the changes in society. The publication than examines the remedies for immaterial harm, among them material and immaterial. It is necessary to further examine procedural institutes that are acceptable for the claims. A brief excursus has been done to the public law - the criminal law because of the new means of infringement of personal rights through the means of electronic communication and the legal orders had to adapt to much severe violations of personality and impact that the virtual infringements have on the real lives of the individuals. The other area of the electronic environment is the question of the liability for the illegal infringement of personal rights, with regard to liability of internet service providers, authors of anonymous statements of the position of common citizens such as bloggers and social media users.

Separate chapter deals with the self-regulatory body in Common law that creates complementary protection for the personal rights infringement. It was necessary to explain the reasons for development of self-regulatory system with the notes on the court system and the access to court in Common law. The development, powers, scope and decision making of the self-regulatory body is outlined also in respect of its impact on the court protection and legislation.

The main concern of the thesis is on the English law, for the comprehensiveness the Scottish legal enclave and the Northern Ireland legal order is included. The main diversions from the English law were described. The paper than goes on presenting the legal regulation of the personal rights protection in selected main Commonwealth representatives that have an impact on the law development in English and American law. Among them belong New Zealand, Australia and Canada. The research focuses on main differences and the background reasons in Common law. The explanation is systematically divided according to the examined areas – defamation that protects honour and dignity, privacy and image rights. The paper than explores the jurisdiction of Ireland and USA. The aim is not to produce complex explanation of the US regulation in respect of personal rights but to complement an English law so that the main differences were highlighted. The key difference is the strong protection of freedom of expression and the the right to publicity as a protection of the commercial value of the personality.

For the aim of the comparison with the Civil law system, the Czech legal order was chosen. The paper focused on the general interpretation of the general personal right in historical and contemporary context. The presentation describes each single personality aspects and its protection and the remedies available in the Czech legal system. The application and procedural difficulties are mentioned.

In comparative summary the analysis of influence of both legal orders in past decade is assessed, especially in connection with the law adoption and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and CJEU. The practical cases have shown the applicable difficulties as well possible enrichment of both systems in respect of public interest definition, proportionality test from the Common law and the right to reply and access to court from the Civil Law. The conclusion summarizes the key principles of both systems, differences and common features.

For the comparison the key historical as well as current topical case law are used. The translations of the books, research papers and case law was done originally. Some of legal terms are used in English without translation for the impossibility to find the Czech equivalent. For the historical methodology the only one available Czech source, dating 1905 is used.

Available here:

http://neoluxor.cz/odborne-knihy/ochrana-osobnosti-v-common-law-a-ceskem-pravu--255365/

http://www.knihyleges.cz/ochrana-osobnosti-v-common-law-a-ceskem-pravu

https://www.knihydobrovsky.cz/author/detail/203301

With the increased global infringement of personal rights, it is necessary to be aware of the protection of personal rights within the British and American legal systems. From the case law from the European Court of Human Rights the two legal systems – Common law and the Civil law are influencing each other legislations. This publication presents a complex introduction to the area of protection of personal rights in Common law and in particular English law. This is the first publication in Czech language on this topic. This publication uses the current legal cases and problems that legal orders face in the 21st Century.