origin of the phrase: the right to privacy

[Jonathan Lighter]

If the question becomes, "Is a right to privacy decreed or postulated in
Scripture?" my SWAG is no.

JL

On Fri, Jan 28, 2011 at 12:11 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

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> 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 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:
> >
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> > > -----------------------
> > > 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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> >--
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> truth."
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"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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