What are Private Rights?

In the broadest sense, private rights are those rights entitled to every private citizen in certain countries. Especially when certain cases are brought to court, a citizen might be able to claim that a certain private right was violated by another party. Private rights and privacy laws have been evolving, and certain rights have been defined in many countries, but others have not yet been specified.

One popular private right is an individual’s right for his or her privacy to be protected and not be invaded. Privacy, in this sense, can mean a spatial territory, physical property or personal information, among other things. Common situations, such as unsolicited invasion or surveillance of a person’s home, ransacking of belongings and acquiring of private data without the person’s knowledge, can be a violation of a person’s private rights.

Another manner in which an individual’s private rights are breached is by fraudulence, in which a person’s identity is misused by another person in order to gain profits. Identity theft and fraudulence can occur in many situations, such as stealing and using another person’s credit card, impersonating or exploiting a person’s name for product advertisements, to name a few. A citizen can take legal action if he or she can present evidence of injuries from the situation, whether direct or direct, whether physical, mental or financial.

Defamatory actions, such as publishing false information or confidential data, also can be grounds for a private rights case. Defamation also can include publicizing verified and accurate facts that can taint a person’s character or damage a person’s life. Circumstances such as these usually occur in the media, where documents, photographs or videos are procured and published, all of which can easily make or break a person’s reputation.

Private rights can also include what is called as the right to action. The right of action states that a person can take to court any party that has violated his or her rights. In many cases, the complainant should cite specific instances where his or her rights were violated and show proper evidence to verify this statement.

Private rights can sometimes conflict with public rights, such as when law enforcement officers have a public right to forcefully enter a person’s house, a supposed private property. Especially with modern technology, surveillance devices can also be a cause of concern for private citizens who want to maintain their private rights. Inspections in places such as in malls, airports and hotels are also very controversial issues, because people can consider thorough examinations of themselves and their bags or luggage to be an invasion of privacy.