Privacy As Property

This innovative work offers a new perspective on the established tort of misuse of private information, contending that English law has evolved a sophisticated mechanism for the protection of privacy and the protection of the economic value in private information.

Although information generally is not property, private information now appears to be treated by English law as a form of property, giving the owner of the information rights of exclusion, exploitation and transfer.

Balancing philosophical discussion of the fundamentals with a detailed analysis of the practical difficulties of "propertising" information, the book suggests that English law has evolved a powerful tool for the protection of privacy in this data-driven world.

Sir Marcus Smith was called to the Bar in 1991 and took silk in 2010. Whilst in practice at the Bar, he had a broad commercial and Chancery practice. He was appointed a chair of the Competition Appeal Tribunal in 2009 and was the chair of the Appeals Committee of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority between 2015 and 2017. He became a High Court Judge (Chancery Division) in January 2017. Between 2019 and 2021, Marcus was Business and Property Courts Supervising Judge for the Midland, Western and Wales Circuits. He relinquished that role on his appointment, in November 2021, as President of the Competition Appeal Tribunal. His three-year term as President expired in November 2024.

Marcus is expert on intangible property, markets and economic law, including anti-trust. He is particularly interested in the interaction between law and economics and the legal analysis of economics. In addition to numerous articles and book chapters, he is the author of The Law of Assignment and Privacy As Property.