ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes a general theory of individual privacy which will reconcile the divergent strands of legal development. It illustrates the welter of cases and statutes the interest or social value which is sought to be vindicated in the name of individual privacy. It proposes to accomplish this by examining in some detail Dean Prosser's analysis of the tort of privacy and by then suggesting the conceptual link between the tort and the other legal contexts in which privacy finds protection. The most important reason for disputing Dean Prosser's thesis in regard to the intrusion cases is that he neglects the real nature of the complaint; namely that the intrusion is demeaning to individuality, is an affront to personal dignity. A woman's legal right to bear children without unwanted onlookers does not turn on the desire to protect her emotional equanimity, but rather on a desire to enhance her individuality and human dignity.
