ABSTRACT
Two shipwreck victims are holding on for life to the same plank of wood, which cannot support their combined weight.2 A woman in search of her origins seeks information about her biological mother, who gave birth to her anonymously.3 A hiker caught in a blizzard breaks into someone else’s cabin to save her life.4 And a newspaper publishes photographs of a celebrity (Naomi Campbell) leaving a Narcotics Anonymous meeting.5 In all these cases – some real, others imagined – the human rights of different persons appear to conflict. In the Plank Case, the rights to life of both shipwreck victims appear irreconcilable. In the Anonymous Birth Case, the daughter’s right to identity appears to clash with her mother’s right to privacy. In the Cabin Case, the hiker’s right to life appears incompatible with the cabin owner’s right to property. And in the Celebrity Case, the newspaper’s freedom of expression appears to conflict with the celebrity’s right to privacy.
