Author: Haroon Khalil

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966 states that human rights derive from the inherent dignity of the human person.76 Human rights are considered by most societies to belonging automatically to everyone; as if they are given as part of human life. This may include freedom, justice, equality, life with dignity, etc. Does this mean that human…

Any right that is in consonance with public welfare is reasonable. Public welfare subsumes the welfare of each individual as well. From this perspective, social welfare seems to be an appropriate ground for claiming rights. But then, we are faced with a problem. How do we determine public welfare? If Bentham’s thesis of greatest happiness of…

The theory of social welfare rights holds that rights should be the conditions of social welfare. As such, the claim for rights must be based on consideration of welfare, justice, equality and common good. While theory of natural rights is associated with liberal tradition, theory of legal rights with juristic traditions, theory of moral–ideal rights…

Theory of historical rights denounces claims of natural right theorists and also the legal right theorists and gives primacy to customary and traditional laws and rights. It claims that neither natural law nor the State can be a source of rights. The State at most gives effect to some of the rights, which are historically…

Historical rights are based on tradition, usages and customs; they are customary and traditional rights. The claims for the right are based on historical, sociological and evolutionary grounds. Being based on customs, traditions and customs, historical rights pertain not only to the claims of the individuals but also to groups and communities. In short, rights are…

While theories of natural and legal rights broadly fall within the liberal framework, theory of moral or ideal rights combines the liberal as well as the idealist framework. While it brings moral and ideal criteria for judging the content of rights, it considers individual as the unit for moral and ideal rights. Kant, Rousseau, Green,…

Along with natural rights, moral entitlements were also stressed as the basis for legal recognition. Moral entitlement as the basis of rights came into the picture initially in the writings of Jean Jacques Rousseau, Immanuel Kant and Thomas Hill Green in eighteenth century and has appeared in the writings of Harold Joseph Laski and Ernest…

Legal theory of right is based on the concept positive law, law enacted by sovereign authority. Rights are created and enforced by law; they are an artificial creation of the State. However, it is argued that if law is the sole creator of rights, then it should also be able to ‘make corruption a right’…

Theory of legal rights has been mainly associated with Thomas Hobbes, Jeremy Bentham and John Austin. Hobbes started with the conception of natural rights as provided in the state of nature and came to the conclusion that a central authority in the commonwealth, the sovereign or the Leviathan, must protect the most fundamental natural right, right…

A common practice that prevails in providing legal rights is through a charter or bill or rights. Constitutions of all countries that provide rights to its citizens do that through Charter or Bill of Rights. The Constitution of France, USA and India (Fundamental Rights) for example, provide declarations of rights of the citizens and individuals…