¶ … Alberta's Health Information Act (HIA).
Statement of the Rule of Law
The inquisitorial justice system, commonly followed in nations that practice civil law, is an alternate model to adversarial systems, followed by common-law nations, such as New Zealand. The former system is normally defined as one that aims at obtaining the truth behind any matter by means of extensive search and analysis of all pieces of evidence. On the other hand, the latter system's aim is arriving at the truth by means of an open competition among defense and prosecution, for making the most convincing argument in their favor (Appendix B: a comparison of the inquisitorial and adversarial systems -- Ministry of Justice, New Zealand, n.d). Field experts who criticize the adversarial strategy contend that the quest for victory frequently dominates the pursuit for truth. One cannot consider either of the two systems as inherently superior. There are, in fact, a number of common features, and numerous countries integrate both systems' features, having experienced some level of convergence in the past eight decades. In adversarial systems, the defense and the Police are in charge of collecting evidence. These systems expect prosecutors, who act on the State's behalf, and defense lawyers, who act on the defendant's behalf, to present their account of events, followed by arguing their case in front of an impartial judge or panel of judges. Witnesses orally provide their chief evidence and might be subject...
In both adversarial and inquisitorial systems, defendants are accorded a right to fair trial and are safeguarded from self-accusation.
Application of the Law to the Facts
The inviolate personality principle lies at the foundation of privacy rights; this personal privacy right is inalienable and universal. Privacy right protection is regarded as pivotal to respecting individual dignity, autonomy and integrity. It has significant value, owing to its impact on social and personal relationships, and owing to its ability to indirectly safeguard people from harm, including discrimination, which may be linked to disclosure of sensitive personal data (Von Tigerstrom, et.al, n.d). Numerous major international documents of human rights, such as the ICCPR (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights) and UDHR (Universal Declaration of Human Rights) recognize privacy rights. ICCPR Article 17 includes the provision that no individual shall experience unlawful or arbitrary interference with regard to his/her privacy, home, family or correspondence, and no individual shall face unlawful criticism with regard to his/her reputation and honor; also, every individual is entitled to legal protection against such attacks or interference. The United Nations Committee for Human Rights has declared that the right against every such attack and interference must be guaranteed, irrespective of whether the attack/interference stems…
