Breach of Confidence

Breach of confidence in Law Enforcement

Main Entry: Law Enforcement in the Legal Dictionary. This section provides, in the context of Law Enforcement, a partial definition of breach of confidence.

Resources

See Also

• Law Enforcement Officer
• Police Officer
• Law Enforcement Agency

Further Reading

• breach of confidence in A Dictionary of Law Enforcement (Oxford University Press)
• breach of confidence in the Encyclopedia of Law Enforcement
• A Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis

English Legal System: Breach of Confidence

In the context of the English law, A Dictionary of Law provides the following legal concept of Breach of Confidence : 1. The disclosure of confidential information without permission.

2. Failure to observe an injunction granted by the court to prevent this. The injunction is most commonly granted to protect *trade secrets (except patents, registered designs, and copyrights, which are protected under statute), but may also be granted, for example, to protect the secrecy of communications made between husband and wife during marriage or, possibly, between cohabitants during their period of cohabitation. The laws protecting confidential information exist at common law and will only restrain the dissemination of truly confidential information. Information that has been disclosed anywhere in the world, unless it was disclosed under conditions (usually a contract) of confidence, cannot subsequently be prevented from disclosure by the courts.