Keith Davies examines the court’s approach to the right to protest on public land
If protesters and sitters-in invade private land unbidden that is trespass, actionable at the suit of the owner-occupier. As to publicly-owned land, a public body as owner-occupier can bring actions for trespass; but does this apply to open land with public rights of access, or to highways? The owner may be a remote authority such as the Crown, or some other large organisation, which should make no difference in principle. But the Human Rights Act 1998 incorporates European Law in the shape of the Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms 1950, which includes a Right to Freedom of Expression (Art 10) and a Right to Freedom of Assembly and Association (Art 11), which were not invented yesterday (or in 1950): consider Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park. English common law does not impose a maximum size of membership upon gatherings of people to discuss public or private concerns so long as there is, eg no breach of the
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