The Basic Research for the Law of Confidentiality in England

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K03369
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Criminal law
• Research Institution: Kumamoto University
• Principal Investigator: SHIBUYA YOHEI 熊本大学, 大学院人文社会科学研究部(法), 准教授 (20380991)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 秘密保護 / 守秘義務

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this project, I reseach on the law of confidentialty in England, especially the source of law and legal effect, the substance of the fact to be protected, and the reach or limit of the confidentiality.
Through this project, I could make clear that the England law has mostly based on the civil law such as equity or common law, not on the criminal law, that the substance of the secret is interpreted broadly as the fact which is useful private information, and that if there is an consent of patient, if there is no
need to protect the patient's information, or there are some sutatutes permitting to disclose that fact to another, that infomation can be produced to someone else. However exploring the proper reasons for or the limits to disclose,and the substantial means for balancing various rights and values are difficult problem need to be considered in-depth.

Free Research Field

刑事法学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究では、コモン・ローをベースとしつつ各種の制定法の制定・改正によって常に制度の改変が続くイギリスの「現在の姿」を明確に描き出し、守秘義務違反に対して刑事法でなく民事法その他のソフトな規範が中心となっていること、医師の守秘義務について倫理的義務をベースとした議論がなされていること、民事判例ではあるものの、患者の秘密の第三者提供の限界が問題となった多くの事例において、対立する諸利益の測定や具体的な比較衡量が行われていることなどが確認された。
以上の点は、この問題に関する日本の望ましい（刑）法解釈論及び立法論の探究という今後の課題に向けて、重要な比較法的研究の基礎を形成し得るものであった。