Understanding Rights Flashcards
What are rights?
Rights are claims of a person over other fellow beings, over the society and over the government.
What are the 3 qualities required for a claim to be called a right?
So if we want to call any claim a right, it has to have these three qualities-
Rights are reasonable claims of people.
Rights are recognized by the society.
Rights are sanctioned by the law.
Why do we need rights?
• Democracy itself revolves around the word “RIGHTS”. If there are no rights, it can’t be called a democracy.
• Rights are needed for an individual to contribute to society and live a life of a true citizen. These rights will help to protect the freedom of the citizen even if the government or the governing leaders keep on changing.
These rights are essential or fundamental for the well being of a person.
We need rights to prevent abuses that hamper the civilization to create happiness for all people.
We need rights so that a fitting adjustment can be made between individual
independence and social control, the need for protecting personal liberty against the
authority of the government and that of limiting personal liberty by government.
These rights are required to preserve individual liberty and democratic principles
based on equality of all members of the society.
State the evolution of rights
The Constitution of Medina, 622 Ad, aimed at granting basic rights to the citizens.
Magna Carta, a charter to limit the powers of the Monarch was signed in England
in 1215.
The Henrican Articles, 1573, were a permanent contract, stating fundamental
principles of governance in Polish- Lithuanian Commonwealth.
The Declaration of Man and Citizens, 1789, was one of the fundamental
documents of the French Revolution, granting basic rights to people in France.
The United States Bill of Rights (1789-1791), Presented by MADISON to the first
American Congress, plays a key role in American law and government. It is a
vital symbol of the freedom and culture of the nation.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 was adopted by UN General
Assembly. This declaration represents the first global expression of rights to
which all human beings are entitled.
Mention some features of natural rights.
- Natural Rights are “natural” in the sense of „not artificial, not man-made‟. Thus, are independent of organized society. In simple words these rights are considered to be natural and essential for individual whether they are recognized or not. No state can be considered as civilized unless it guarantees these rights.
- They are universal and cannot be taken away.
- For example, it has been argued that humans have a natural right to life.
What are the three natural rights of a free human according to John Locke?
• Locke an eminent social contract thinker emphasized the following as three natural rights of man:
Life – Everyone is entitled to live once they are created.
Liberty – Everyone is entitled to do anything they want as long as it doesn’t
conflict with the right to life.
Estate – Everyone is entitled to own all they create or gain through gift or trade
as long as it doesn’t conflict with right to life and right to liberty.
What is a Liberty Right?
- Legal Rights are rights bestowed onto a person by the law of a particular political and legal system.
- For example right to vote is a legal right.
What are positive rights?
POSITIVE RIGHTS permit or oblige action
These permissions or obligations may be of either legal or moral character.
Eg- Police protection
What are negative rights?
NEGATIVE RIGHTS permit or oblige inaction. These permissions or obligations may be of either legal or moral character.
Eg - The freedom from violoent crime.
Types of rights
Natural rights vs. Legal rights Claim rights vs Liberty rights Positive rights vs Negative rights Individual rights vs Group rights Fundamental Rights Constitutional Rights Human rights Child rights
What are legal rights?
- Legal Rights are rights bestowed onto a person by the law of a particular political and legal system.
- For example right to vote is a legal right.
What are claim rights?
- A Claim Right is a right which entails responsibilities, duties or obligations on other parties regarding the right holder. Every claim right entails that some other duty–bearer must do some duty for the claim to be satisfied.
- For example: Many jurisdictions recognize broad claim rights to things like “life, liberty and property”. These rights impose an obligation upon others not to assault or restrain a person, or use their property, without the claim–holder”s permission.
What are individual and group rights?
- These rights are held only by individual people regardless of their group membership.
- Example of this is Magna Carta, in which the English King accepted that his will could be bound by the law and certain rights of the King’s subjects were protected.
- Group Rights are held by a group rather than by its members individually.
- These rights are group based rather than universally available to all individuals just by virtue of being human. Thus these rights may not be included in the category of human rights.
- For example, in a war situation, a soldier is ready to sacrifice his life for his country. By doing so, he is actually prioritizing a group right of all his fellow citizens over his individual right to life.
What is a Constitutional Right?
• Constitutional Right is a legal right granted by sovereign constitution to its citizens and aliens within its jurisdiction.
Where do we find the South African Bill of Rights? What does it guarantee?
• Chapter 2 of the Constitution of South Africa contains the Bill of Rights, a human rights charter that protects the civil, political and socio-economic rights of all people in South Africa.
Right to Equality – Everyone is equal before the law and has the right to equal protection and benefit of the law.
b) Equality includes the full and equal enjoyment of all rights and freedoms.
c) Human Dignity – Everyone has inherent dignity and the right to have their
dignity respected and protected.
d) Life – Everyone has the right to life.
e) Freedom of Religion, Belief and Opinion – Everyone has the right to freedom
of conscience, religion, thought, belief and opinion.
f) Freedom of Expression – Freedom of the Press and other media and freedom
to receive or impart information or ideas.
g) Education – Everyone has the right to a basic education, including adult basic
education.
