Dear Colleagues:

 

I would be interested in anyone’s views on the following questions (which came up in a faculty discussion of Jones v Tsinge).  As I remember  AG v Guardian Newspapers it stands for the proposition that if X comes into possession of information that X knows is confidential, then X impressed with a duty of confidence that is in addition to the duty owed between the original parties (A & B) to the confidential relationship.  X would therefore be liable for breach of confidence if X reported the information to the public.

 

The questions that flow from this are:  Is X under any sort of duty not to actively seek out confidential information?  For example, if X induces A to divulge B’s secret is X liable?  Similarly, if X regularly searches the public streets outside of A’s business in the hope of finding some confidential information about B and succeeds (but does not publish it, being content to know the truth themselves) has X committed any wrong against B known to Equity?  

 

Any insights, cases, or gut feelings welcome.

Sincerely,

-- 
Jason Neyers
Associate Professor of Law
Faculty of Law
Western University
N6A 3K7
(519) 661-2111 x. 88435