1890 TheRighttoPrivacy
- (Warren & Brandeis, 1890) ⇒ Samuel D. Warren, and Louis Brandeis. (1890). “The Right to Privacy.” In: Harvard Law Review, 4.
Subject Headings: Privacy, Confidentiality, Right to Privacy.
Notes
- It introduces the concept that the right to privacy has evolved alongside society, expanding from physical protections to include intangible aspects like emotions, reputation, and intellectual property.
- It argues that recent technological and business advancements have necessitated further development of legal protections to preserve individual privacy against unwanted public exposure and appropriation of personal attributes.
- It discusses the inadequacy of existing laws, which primarily address physical harm or property rights, to fully protect against invasions of privacy that cause mental distress and violate personal dignity.
- It suggests that the right to privacy should be explicitly recognized and protected by law, to prevent the media and other entities from intruding into private lives and disseminating personal information without consent.
- It emphasizes that privacy rights are not absolute but must be balanced against the public interest, drawing parallels with defamation laws to suggest potential limitations and remedies for privacy violations.
- It proposes that the truth of the information disclosed or the absence of malice in its publication should not be defenses against a privacy violation, focusing on the right to control personal information.
- It concludes by advocating for both legal and societal recognition of privacy rights, suggesting remedies such as tort actions for damages and injunctions to prevent further invasions, and hinting at the potential for criminal law protection.
Cited By
2024
- (Wikipedia, 2024) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Right_to_Privacy_(article) Retrieved:2024-2-17.
- "The Right to Privacy" (4 Harvard L.R. 193 (Dec. 15, 1890)) is a law review article written by Samuel D. Warren II and Louis Brandeis, and published in the 1890 Harvard Law Review. It is "one of the most influential essays in the history of American law" [1] and is widely regarded as the first publication in the United States to advocate a right to privacy, [2] articulating that right primarily as a "right to be let alone".[3]
- ↑ Susan E. Gallagher, Introduction to "The Right to Privacy" by Louis D. Brandeis and Samuel Warren: A Digital Critical Edition, University of Massachusetts Press, forthcoming.
- ↑ See, e.g., Dorothy J. Glancy, "The Invention of the Right to Privacy" , Arizona Law Review, v. 21, n. 21, pp. 1–39 (1979), p. 1 ("The right to privacy is, as a legal concept, a fairly recent invention. It dates back to a law review article published in December of 1890 by two young Boston lawyers, Samuel Warren and Louis Brandeis.").
- ↑ Warren & Brandeis, paragraph 1.
Quotes
- "It could be done only on principles of private justice, moral fitness, and public convenience, which, when applied to a new subject, make common law without a precedent; much more when received and approved by usage." — Willes, J., in Millar v. Taylor, 4 Burr. 2303, 2312
Body
That the individual shall have full protection in person and in property is a principle as old as the common law; but it has been found necessary from time to time to define anew the exact nature and extent of such protection. Political, social, and economic changes entail the recognition of new rights, and the common law, in its eternal youth, grows to meet the new demands of society. Thus, in very early times, the law gave a remedy only for physical interference with life and property, for trespasses vi et armis. Then the "right to life" served only to protect the subject from battery in its various forms; liberty meant freedom from actual restraint; and the right to property secured to the individual his lands and his cattle. Later, there came a recognition of man's spiritual nature, of his feelings and his intellect. Gradually the scope of these legal rights broadened; and now the right to life has come to mean the right to enjoy life, -- the right to be let alone; the right to liberty secures the exercise of extensive civil privileges; and the term "property" has grown to comprise every form of possession -- intangible, as well as tangible.
...
References
;
| Author | volume | Date Value | title | type | journal | titleUrl | doi | note | year | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1890 TheRighttoPrivacy | Samuel D. Warren Louis Brandeis | The Right to Privacy | 1890 |