Hastings International and Comparative Law Review Volume 35 Article 8 Number 1 Winter 2012 1-1-2012 Face-Veil Bans and Anti-Mask Laws: State Interests and the Right to Cover the Face Evan Darwin Winet Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.uchastings.edu/ hastings_international_comparative_law_review Part of the Comparative and Foreign Law Commons, and the International Law Commons Recommended Citation Evan Darwin Winet, Face-Veil Bans and Anti-Mask Laws: State Interests and the Right to Cover the Face, 35 Hastings Int'l & Comp. L. Rev. 217 (2012). Available at: https://repository.uchastings.edu/hastings_international_comparative_law_review/vol35/iss1/8 This Note is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at UC Hastings Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Hastings International and Comparative Law Review by an authorized editor of UC Hastings Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Face-Veil Bans and Anti-Mask Laws: State Interests and the Right to Cover the Face By EVAN DARWIN WINET* ... because certain individuals need to conceal their identities in order to speak publicly, the anonymity provided by their masks is inextricably intertwined with their right to free speech. -Stephen J. Simoni' Covering one's face from the view of others is a way of protecting one's anonymity. The right to anonymity, if there is such a right, is closely linked to the right of privacy that is guaranteed by the French civil code and by the European Convention on Human Rights. On public streets or in an outdoor market, one's anonymity enjoys legal protection from photographers.