11. Article 8: The right to respect for private and family life, home, and correspondence

Abstract

This chapter discusses Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which is described as the ‘least defined and most unruly of the rights enshrined in the Convention’. Article 8 places on states the obligation to ‘respect’ a wide range of undefined personal interests which embrace a number of overlapping and inter-related areas, including some LGBT rights. None of the four interests covered by Article 8(1)—private life, family life, home, and correspondence—is defined in the Convention and their content is a matter of interpretation.