Nicholas Dobson considers the irritating, contentious, eccentric, heretical, unwelcome & provocative
- No offence committed at Quran burning episode.
- The right to freedom of expression requires a suitably narrow construction of s 5(1) Public Order Act 1986.
- Whether behaviour is ‘disorderly’ is to be judged objectively, applying the standards of a democratic society, respecting free speech and protest rights.
There is often an uneasy balance between free speech and public order offences. Art 10(1) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), incorporated into UK law by the Human Rights Act 1998, gives everyone the right to freedom of expression, subject to 10(2) restrictions as ‘prescribed by law’ and ‘necessary in a democratic society’ for (among other things) ‘the prevention of disorder or crime’, or ‘the protection of the reputation or rights of others’.
Handyside v UK (5493/72) made clear that the right to freedom of expression is applicable not only to information or ideas favourably received or regarded as inoffensive or indifferent, ‘but also to those that offend, shock or disturb the State or any sector of the
