The origin of privacy as a legal value: A reflection on Roman and English law

American Journal of Legal History

Volumn 52, Issue 2, 2012, Pages 183-201

  Periñán, Bernardo ^a  

^a UNIVERSIDAD PABLO DE OLAVIDE   (Spain)

Author keywords

Citizenship; English law; Individual personality; Privacy; Roman law

Indexed keywords

EID: 84862065420     PISSN: 00029319     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/ajlh/52.2.183     Document Type: Article

References (42)

1. HL Deb. vol. 229 col. 607 (13 March 1961). It could be said that there has been a long evolution in UK Law from this very beginning of privacy, as a specific legal value, to the Human Rights Act 1998.
2. For the historical precedents of the tort of defamation in English Law, see D. J. Ibbetson, A Historical Introduction to the Law of Obligations, Oxford 1999, p. 112 ff.
3. However, a negative evaluation of the law of defamation in English Law can be seen in T. Weir, Tort Law, Oxford 2002, p. 161 ff.
4. M. Tugendhat - I. Christie (eds.), The Law of Privacy and the Media, Oxford 2002, p. ix: "We all need privacy. Without it we do not feel free."
5. A. F. Westin, Privacy and Freedom, New York 1967, p. 7.
6. Harvard Law Review, 4(1890), p. 193 ff.
7. J. A. Page, "American tort law and the right to privacy", in G. Bruggermeir et al., Personality Rights in European Tort law, Cambridge 2010, p. 38 ff.: "As a direct consequence of this single publication, the privacy tort wove its way into the tapestry of American Jurisprudence."
8. M. Warby et al., "Context and Background", in P. Carey, Data Protection. A practical guide to UK an EU Law, 3rd. ed, Oxford 2009, p. 1 ff.
9. On the relation of data protection and privacy, see R. Jay, Data Protection law and practice, 3rd ed., London 2007, p. 2.
10. P. Wallington - J. Mcbride, Civil Liberties and a Bill of Rights, London 1976, p. 62 f.
11. Hatton v. UK [2003] 37 EHRR 611.
12. Campbell v. MGN Ltd [2004] UKHL 22
13. [2004] 2 AC 457.
14. Dobson v. Thames Water Utilities Ltd. [2009] EWCA Civ 28.
15. On this, see S. Tofaris, "Damages for sewage smells in nuisance and under the Human Rights Act 1998", Cambridge Law Journal, 68 (2009) p. 273 ff.
16. See S. Smith, Image, persona and the Law, 2nd ed., London 2008, p. 1.
17. D. J. Ibbetson, A Historical Introduction, op. cit. (supra, note 1) p. v.
18. R. Zimmermann, The Law of Obligations. Roman Foundations of the Civilian Tradition, Oxford 1996, p. 1052.
19. On the form of the condemnation see Gai. 3, 224. A. Cenderelli, "II carattere non patrimoniale dell'actio iniuriarum", IVRA, 15(1964), p. 159 ff.
20. On its probable content, see O. Lenel, Das edictum perpetuum, 3rd ed. rev., Leipzig 1927, p. 400.
21. This author identified family as a political structure in pre-civic Rome. See, for example, P. Bonfante, Scritti giuridici varii I. Famiglia e successione, Torino 1916, p. 30 ff.
22. In general, on Roman idea of domicile, vide O. Licandro, Domicilium habere: persona e territorio nella disciplina del domicilio romana, Torino 2004.
23. The translation is taken from J. Carcopino, Cicero: the secrets of his correspondence II, English trans, by E. O. Lorimer, London 1951, p. 425.
24. See D. McQuoid-Mason, The law of Privacy in South Africa, Cape Town 1978, p. 23 ff.
25. and R. Zimmermann, The Law of Obligations (supra n. 23), p. 1058, nt. 78. The right to privacy is expressly recognized in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Section 14, and the actio iniuriarum aestimatoria provides the basis for the protection of personality rights under private law (Jackson v. NICRO 1976 3 SA 1 (A) 11).
26. Also the civitas is the protection of citizens against foreigners, which cannot take part in political decisions or in legal relations under Roman Law. In this sense, L. Capogrossi Colognesi, Cittadini e territorio. Consolidamento e trasformazione delta civitas romana, Roma 2000, p. 25.
27. A. Ernout - A. Meillet, Dictionaire etymologique de la langue latine. Histoire des mots, reimpr. of the 4th ed., Paris 2001, p. 124.
28. G. Crifò, Civis. La cittadinanza tra antico e moderno, 6th ed., Roma-Bari 2005, p. 25, afirms:"[...] in Grecia il 'cittadino' nasce dalla 'città', per la città e nella città, mentre a Roma vale il contrario, è dal cittadino e per il cittadino che nasce la città."
29. In this sense, C. Ruiz Miguel, La configuration constitutional del Derecho a la intimidad, Madrid 2005, p. 49, says: "Es diffcil encontrar una protección de la intimidad o de alguna de sus vertientes en la Grecia cIásica. En Roma, sin embargo, ya encontramos algunas normas en ese sentido."
30. On this historical evolution, see for example, F. De Martino, Storia delta costituzione romana I, 2nd ed., Napoli 1972, p. 4 ff.
31. P. W. Duff, Personality in Roman Private Law, Cambridge 1938, p. 51.
32. On its composition, see A. H. M. Jones, "The Aerarium and the Fiscus", Journal of Roman Studies, 40(1950), p. 22 ff.
33. Lact., De mort. persec. 48.
34. Euseb. Caesar., His. Eccles. 10, 5.
35. J. Orlandis Rovira, "La paz de la casa en el Derecho espaflol de la Alta Edad Media", Anuario de Historia del Derecho Español, 15(1944), p 107 ff.
36. For the English medieval experience, see D. J. Ibbetson, A Historical Introduction (supra, n. 1), p. 14 ff.
37. In general see V. G. Kiernan, The duel in European History: honour and the reign of aristocracy, Oxford 1988.
38. R. Zimmermann, The Law of Obligations (supra, n. 23) p. 1074, where he also says about libel and slander: "It is, in fact, an exceptionally messy branch of the common law, full of curious niceties, of artificial and irrational distinctions, and of "technicalities beyond belief."" z Cases S v. United Kingdom and Marper v. United Kingdom, App Nos 30562/04 and 30566/04, [2008] 25 B. H. R. C. 557.
39. On these cases see, B. Hepple, The Right to Privacy and Crime detection, Cambridge Law Journal 68(2009), p. 253 ff.
40. D. A. Anderson, "An American Perspective", in S. Deakin et al., Markesinis and Deakin's Tort Law, Oxford 2003, p. 721.
41. This possibility was refused in the past: A v. B. plc [2002] EMLR 21
42. All ER 545 (CA).