origin of the phrase: the right to privacy

[Joel S. Berson]

At 1/27/2011 08:06 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>A legal "right to privacy," so termed, is different from a moral right to
>privacy.

Maybe.  Although at the time when all authority and laws came from
God, there wasn't much difference.  And the two quotations I cited
seem  (absent study of greater context) to cite each -- the 1856 a
moral right, and the 1830 (earlier!) a legal right.

1856 -- in the "manual of republican etiquette:, ' This right to
privacy extends to one's business, his personal
relations, his thoughts, and his feelings. Don't . intrude ; and
always " mind your own business," '

1830 -- "... or even legal delinquency of one who publishes the
truth, with a malicious design to create mischief, but whether the
party, concerning whom nothing more than the truth is published, has
such a right to privacy and concealment, ... "

(And Dennis Baron didn't make a distinction explicitly -- he asked
about the phrase.)

Joel


>JL
>
>On Thu, Jan 27, 2011 at 7:39 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > Subject:      Re: origin of the phrase: the right to privacy
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > At 1/27/2011 04:56 PM, Dan Goncharoff wrote:
> > >The phrase existed in English law before the Harvard Law Review used it.
> > >
> > >JONES v. TAPLING. July 12. 1862
> > >Cases argued and determined in the Court of Common Pleas and in ...,
> > Volume 12
> > >
> >
> http://books.google.com/books?id=PkMwAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22right%20to%20privacy%22&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=%22right%20to%20privacy%22&f=false
> > >"...the law does not protect the right to privacy, as it does that to
> > >light and air."
> >
> > I noticed this, but it denies a right to privacy.  :-)  (And it's
> > later than the 1830 and 1833 instances.)
> >
> > Joel
> >
> >
> > >On Thu, Jan 27, 2011 at 4:11 PM, Dennis Baron <debaron at illinois.edu>
> > wrote:
> > > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > -----------------------
> > > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > > Poster:       Dennis Baron <debaron at ILLINOIS.EDU>
> > > > Subject:      origin of the phrase: the right to privacy
> > > >
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > >
> > > > Did the phrase "the right to privacy" originate with the essay of that
> > =
> > > > name by Samuel Warren and Louis Brandeis in the Harvard Law Review of =
> > > > 1890? An OED search for the phrase yields that article as the earliest
> > =
> > > > cite. I'm teaching the article in my Language and Law class next week,
> > =
> > > > and I am curious to know if the phrase antedates that often cited =
> > > > article? (I wouldn't be surprised if it does.)
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > ____________________
> > > > Dennis Baron
> > > > Professor of English and Linguistics
> > > > Department of English                   =20
> > > > University of Illinois=20
> > > > 608 S. Wright St.
> > > > Urbana, IL 61801                                              =20
> > > >
> > > > office: 217-244-0568
> > > > fax: 217-333-4321
> > > >
> > > > http://www.illinois.edu/goto/debaron
> > > >
> > > > read the Web of Language:
> > > > http://www.illinois.edu/goto/weboflanguage
> > > >
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