Article 8 ECHR under the Human Rights Act 1998: Scope, Positive Obligations, Limitations and Leading Cases on Private Life, Family Life, Home and Correspondence

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Practice notes

Introduction

Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) sets out that: 1) every individual is entitled to respect for his or her private and family life, home and correspondence; and 2) a public authority must not interfere with the exercise of this right unless any interference is lawful and necessary in a democratic society for reasons including:

in the interests of national security
in the interests of public safety
for the country’s economic wellbeing
for the prevention of disorder or crime
for the protection of health or morals
for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others

The rights safeguarded by Article 8 are also set out in Schedule 1 to the Human Rights Act 1998, and are qualified rights (see Practice Note: Convention rights—structure of qualified rights). Article 8 is engaged whenever one or more of the interests listed in Article 8(1) are in issue.

Private Life

‘Private life’ is not given a precise definition by the ECHR or in the relevant case law...

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Khatija Hafesji

Monckton Chambers

Khatija was called to the Bar in 2016 and has a broad and busy practice spanning public and administrative law, including human rights, data protection, competition and procurement. She has acted in a number of high-profile cases in recent years, including successfully defending the Department of Health and Social Care in the PPE and antibody testing procurement challenges brought by the Good Law Project. For Claimants, acting for Article 39 she successfully challenged the Department for Education’s Covid-19 Regulations affecting children in care. In the humans rights arena, she has acted for the joint interveners in the Telegram v Russia case before the ECtHR.Khatija is ranked by Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners across three practice areas (Administrative Law and Human Rights, Community Care and Procurement):“She is fantastic; she’s thorough in everything that she does, extremely knowledgeable and an impressive advocate.” - Chambers UK,...

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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