Rights

The citizens of the world's first democracy in ancient Athens enjoyed certain rights, among them the freedom to vote, hold public office, and have disputes settled according to prescribed legal procedures. Women, slaves, and children had no rights of their own but were dependent on an adult male citizen for their status and enforcement of any rights they might claim. Foreigners within the city-state's jurisdiction had no rights except by treaty (See Aliens).

U.S.. citizens, in contrast, have a constitution that is a form of contract in which rights, duties, and powersare divided between the governors and the governed. This idea first gained credence with Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679), who argued in The Leviathan (1651) for an implied contractual relationship between the ruler and the ruled. “It is a contract amongst the potential subjects to yield up their rights in favour of a sovereign. Indeed since the original contract takes place in the state of nature (in which all men have a right to all things) there are no rights which the subject could give to the sovereign, since he, in common with them, until the moment of contract, has a right to all: the right of nature.”

Two types of rights can be identified: (1) human rights that are recognized in international documents and by [Page p409]international courts and tribunals, and (2) domestic legal rights that are enforceable under a nation's constitution and laws. Some rights may be recognized in both contexts.

Human rights are rights that a person is entitled to by virtue of being a human being in a human society. These rights have been expressed in some national documents, such as the Declaration of Independence (1776) and France's Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789). More recently they have been set forth in international and regional documents such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man (1948), European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (1950), and African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (1981). Rights cited in such documents, many of which are also guaranteed in national constitutions, generally include freedom from discriminationon the basis of race, sex, ethnic background, color, language, or religion; equality before the law and equal protection of the law; freedom of conscience, expression, and movement; and equal access to participation in the government and public service.

Domestic legal rights are natural, civil, political, and personal rights that can be enforced by the courts. Constitutional guarantees are legal rights, as are rights contained in laws enacted by legislatures and other laws recognized by courts of law, such as common law rights and rights based on precedent or prior court decisions. Natural rights include the right to life, liberty, privacy, and a good reputation. Civil rights include the right to own property, to marry (See Families), legal protection of contracts, and trial by jury (See Juries; Trials). Political rights include the power to participate directly or indirectly in government, from voting to holding public office.

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