The Right to Privacy

A thorough introduction to privacy law, covering landmark cases, important themes, historical curiosities, and enduring controversies.

The Right to Privacy: Rights and Liberties under the Law measures the impact of what Louis Brandeis called, "The most comprehensive of rights and the most valued by civilized man." As the book shows, an individual's right to privacy is not a written-in-stone concept, but one that emerged from the "shadows" of a number of amendments and court decisions. The book traces that concept to its philosophical and common law roots, then looks at how privacy rights have been interpreted, expanded, and sometimes curtailed throughout the 20th century.

It concludes with a review of privacy rights today, examining landmark recent cases involving euthanasia, polygamy, reproductive rights for inmates, same-sex unions, adoption by gays and lesbians, the right to withhold personal information, and more.



A source materials section consisting of critical primary documents, court decisions, statutory provisions, etc., reprinted in excerpted form and preceded by brief headnotes explaining the significance and background of the reproduced material

A background reference section—alphabetically arranged entries, combining scholarship with insight, on important people, laws, events, legal issues, constitutional issues, judicial decisions, statutes, places, institutions, offices, organizations, terms, and concepts that are central to understanding the right to privacy