Right To Privacy By Warren And Brandeis: Article Analysis

The Right to Privacy by Warren and Brandeis

This article begins with the understanding that the definition of privacy is fluid and that the laws are constantly being re-defined as time passes. Its fluidity can be attributed to the changes in social, economic and political environments (Warren & Brandeis, 1890). For instance, right to privacy encompasses the notion that it only extends to tangible and physical properties of an individual (Warren & Brandeis, 1890). Specifically using the expansion of “right to life” as an example, they illustrated the growth of the legal conception of property. The law’s scope extended to the “incorporeal and intangible property”, such as properties of the mind, literature, goodwill, art, trade secrets, trademarks and goodwill (Warren & Brandeis, 1890). Further, they expressed that the development of the law will be inevitable. The intense

Next, Warren and Brandeis looked at the intellectual property law to understand if the principles behind it can preserve one’s privacy. From here, they concluded that “the protection afforded to thoughts, sentiments, and emotions, expressed through the medium of writing or of the arts, so far as it consists in preventing publication, is merely an instance of the enforcement of the more general right of the individual to be let alone” (Warren & Brandeis, 1890). More specifically, they looked at court cases including Tuck v. Priester, where the owners (plaintiffs) of the picture hired the defendant to make copies (Warren & Brandeis, 1890). The defendant made copies, but kept some and offered to sell them for a lower price (Warren & Brandeis, 1890). The courts ruled that the plaintiffs were authorized to a mandate and damages for breach of contract (Warren & Brandeis,