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Full-Text Articles in Law
Controlling Identity: Plessy, Privacy, And Racial Defamation, Jonathan Kahn
Controlling Identity: Plessy, Privacy, And Racial Defamation, Jonathan Kahn
Faculty Scholarship
This Article explores the origins of privacy law in early twentieth century America in relation to the legal solidification of Jim Crow in the aftermath of Plessy v. Ferguson. It considers some distinctively southern aspects of the origins of the right to privacy and argues that by viewing privacy, racial defamation, and Jim Crow in relation to each other, we can gain new insights into each-coming to understand that Plessy was not just about controlling space, or property, or even equality but also about controlling identity itself, and coming to see that in its origins, the right to privacy had …
Privacy As A Legal Principle Of Identity Maintenance, Jonathan Kahn
Privacy As A Legal Principle Of Identity Maintenance, Jonathan Kahn
Faculty Scholarship
This article considers how existing literature on privacy recognizes, constructs and otherwise implicates something the Anglo-American legal tradition recognizes as 'identity'. Integral to this concern is approaching privacy as a regulative principle for constructing and managing relations between the individual and three primary spheres of engagement: society, the market, and the state. Contemporary analyses of privacy tend to concentrate of how privacy protects the individual from state tyranny or the prying eyes of social busy bodies. Much less attention has been paid, however, to privacy as a principle for demarcating a space beyond the reach of market forces. As privacy …
What's In A Name? Law's Identity Under The Tort Of Appropriation, Jonathan Kahn
What's In A Name? Law's Identity Under The Tort Of Appropriation, Jonathan Kahn
Faculty Scholarship
This article is divided into three parts. In Part I, the article explores the notion that under the tort of appropriation, a person’s name is understood to implicate critical aspects of her identity. This notion is explored in relation to specific historical cases raising the issues of whether a woman who adopts her husband’s name has a property right in that name and whether a person who adopts a professional or stage name has separate rights in that name apart from his legal name. Second, Part II focuses on a person’s right to maintain the integrity of his physical image. …
Be My Guest: The Hidden Holding Of Minnesota V. Carter, Edwin J. Butterfoss, Mary Sue B. Snyder
Be My Guest: The Hidden Holding Of Minnesota V. Carter, Edwin J. Butterfoss, Mary Sue B. Snyder
Faculty Scholarship
This Article first examines the Carter case in detail, including the opinions of the state courts and the briefs and oral argument in the United States Supreme Court, before turning to the Court's decision. The Article highlights the importance of Justice Kennedy's concurring opinion and explains the "hidden holding" of the case, raising the question of whether lowercourts will apply the correct rule from the case. The Article argues that the Court's denial of the defendants' claim of a reasonable expectation of privacy, combined with its failure to provide guidance as to when non-overnight visitors in homes will have the …
Bringing Dignity Back To Light: Publicity Rights And The Eclipse Of The Tort Of Appropriation Of Identity, Jonathan Kahn
Bringing Dignity Back To Light: Publicity Rights And The Eclipse Of The Tort Of Appropriation Of Identity, Jonathan Kahn
Faculty Scholarship
Over the years, the privacy-based tort of appropriation has become eclipsed by its flashier cousin, publicity. Such is perhaps to be expected in a world where seemingly everything has been turned into a saleable commodity. When celebrities are perpetually trading on their names and images in the open market, it may seem quaint, at best, to invoke a dignity as a basis for protecting personal identity. But this is exactly what happens. In case after case, even as they demand restitution for the converted monetary value of their names and images, celebrities also invoke dignitary concerns as a prime motivation …