Searching for Privacy in a Mixed Jurisdiction

Abstract

The article examines the individual’s right to privacy, with particular reference to its protection against actors other than the State. The English model is provided by the Common Law on breach of confidence; the Civilian one by the development of the actio iniuriarum in line with its development in other mixed jurisdictions such as South Africa and, less prominently, Louisiana. Of critical importance is the stimulus to legal development provided by human rights jurisprudence, lately made directly relevant to Scots law by the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA).