December 20, 2025
Golder v United Kingdom [1975] ECHR 1
A prisoner was refused permission by the Home Secretary to consult a solicitor about bringing a libel action against a prison officer. The European Court of Human Rights held this violated Article 6(1), establishing that the right to a fair trial includes a right of access to the courts, and Article 8, as it interfered with his correspondence rights. Facts Mr Sidney Elmer Golder, a British citizen serving a fifteen-year prison sentence for robbery with violence at Parkhurst Prison, was accused by prison officer Mr Laird of participating in a prison disturbance on 24 October 1969. Laird later qualified his
