author
Samuel D. (Samuel Dennis) Warren
1852–1910
Best known as the co-author of the landmark 1890 article "The Right to Privacy," he helped shape one of the most influential ideas in modern American law. A Boston lawyer and businessman, he moved easily between elite legal circles and public life in Gilded Age New England.
1 Audiobook
The Right to Privacy
by Samuel D. (Samuel Dennis) Warren, Louis Dembitz Brandeis
About the author
Born in Boston on January 25, 1852, Samuel Dennis Warren II came from a prominent family with deep ties to business and civic life. He studied at Harvard College and Harvard Law School, where he graduated near the top of his class and formed a lasting friendship with Louis D. Brandeis.
Warren is remembered above all for co-authoring "The Right to Privacy" with Brandeis in the Harvard Law Review in 1890. The article became a foundational text in American privacy law, arguing that the law should protect the "right to be let alone" as modern media and photography made private life easier to expose.
Alongside his legal career, Warren was also involved in business and public affairs in Boston. He died on February 18, 1910, but his name remains closely linked to one of the most enduring concepts in legal thought: the idea that privacy deserves recognition and protection.