Rethinking Privacy: Exclusivity, Private Relation and Tort Law

Referencing recent decisions in the high courts of England. Australia and Sew Zealand that have recognized a right to privacy as a protected interest in tort law. the author examines whether the extension of tort law 's protection to "privacy" can be justified. This inquiry focuses on tort law's fundamental norms by examining whether the interest can he rationalized with a conception of liability for interference with a person's rights in his or herexternal things or in his or her own bodily integrity. The author ultimately discerns and assesses too possible justifications: first, protecting the plaintiffs interest in his or her privacy where it represents a resourcefrom which the plaintiff has excluded the defendant; andsecond, upholding the dignity of persons.