The Right to Respect for Private Life: Domestic and Community Regulations

Abstract

The impact generated by numerous conceptions regarding human rights has been noted since antiquity, in the works of philosophers such as Socrates, Aristotle, Plato. Man, as a product of society and at the same time, producer of society, can be characterized according to its interests, because the human being is a social being. Accepting the specific character of each individual constitutes the principle of respecting his life and being. The right to private life was mentioned for the first time in 1890, in the United States, by Samuel Warren, a lawyer from Boston, together with his friend, Louis Brandeis, a professor at Harvard University, in the work entitled "The right to private life". It was defined by them as the right to be left alone.

"The right to respect for private life", "the right to privacy" or "the right to private life" represents a fundamental right of society, human dignity and freedom, both in national and international legislation. In Romania, the New Civil Code requires respect for private life. Its provisions mention the facts that constitute violations of the right to private life, but also the legal means that the individual benefits from to defend his right to privacy. At the European level, the protection of the right to private life is guaranteed by art. 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, but also by the practice of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Considering the aforementioned, I started in this article from explaining the term private life approached in the European context, I described how private life is protected both by European legislation and by Romanian legislation aligned with the European one, I emphasized the importance of protection personal data in this context, concluding with the description of art. 8 of the Convention for the Respect of Human Rights, an article so requested in the European Court, even by the citizens of our country.