Gourt > Society > Law > Legal Information > Constitutional Law and Civil Rights (53)
A right is the power or liberty to which a person or a group is justly entitled or a thing to which they have a moral or legal claim. The specific enumeration of rights accorded to citizens has historically differed greatly from one century to the next, and from one regime to another, but nowadays is normally addressed by the constitutions of the respective nations. Rights serve as rules of interaction between people and groups, and, as such, they place constraints or positive obligations on individuals, groups, institutions, and governments.
These rights are variously interpreted. For example, in a given country, a right to free speech may merely mean that the government may not actively engage in censorship, and may apply only to speech that the courts of that country deem political, not, for example, sexually related speech, even in realms that such as a discussion of birth control that other countries might deem political. But, in any case, a right to free speech is generally not interpreted to mean that anyone else has a right to facilitate one's speech. In A.J. Liebling's words, "Freedom of the press belongs to those who own one." On the other hand, an individual right to healthcare implies an obligation on others to provide that healthcare. Thus, an individual having a right places responsibilities, either negative or positive, on others. (See negative and positive rights and three generations of human rights) Though rights usually refers to individual rights, in certain societies there may be group rights, where all members of a group have certain rights by virtue of being in that group. Contrast with license.
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Intellectual Freedom :: Library and Information Science
Issues :: Society
Abramoff Gets 4 Years In Jail, Pens Memoir
Fri, 05 Sep 2008 10:27:00 -0400
Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist at the center of a Washington, D.C., corruption scandal, was sentenced Thursday to four years in prison. According to the Washington Post, he told the judge he is no longer the person who "happily and arrogantly" engaged in a lifestyle of corruption. In fact, he's now a writer.
Detroit Mayor Acknowledges 'Poor Judgment'
Fri, 05 Sep 2008 08:43:00 -0400
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has agreed to step down later this month and serve 120 days in a county jail as part of a plea deal. Kilpatrick's resignation ends an almost six-month fight to stay in office amid obstruction of justice charges. Thursday night, Kilpatrick made his first public speech to Detroiters after the plea bargain.
Lobbyist Abramoff Gets Four-Year Prison Term
Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:55:00 -0400
Former lobbyist Jack Abramoff is sentenced to four years in prison for conspiracy in connection with a highly publicized public corruption case. The scandal involved a number of members of Congress, many of them Republicans, and contributed to several key election defeats in 2006.
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Albanian Constitution - Complete English language translation.
Bora Laskin Law Library: Constitutional Law - Canadian and international constitutional law with a generous helping of American Constitutional resources as well.
Brazil Constitution - Full text, translated into English and with comments.
Meta Description: [ Brazilian Constitution in English ]
Constitución de Haití - English and French versions of the Constitution of Haiti.
Meta Description: [ Comprehensive database of political information concerning all 35 independent nations of the Western Hemisphere.
Base de datos con información política de los 35 países de la hemisferia del oeste. Base de données politiques concernant les 35 pays d'Amerique Latin,
Canada et les Etats-U... ]
Constitucion de Belice - English translation of the Constitution of Belize.
Meta Description: [ Comprehensive database of political information concerning all 35 independent nations of the Western Hemisphere.
Base de datos con información política de los 35 países de la hemisferia del oeste. Base de données politiques concernant les 35 pays d'Amerique Latin,
Canada et les Etats-U... ]
Constitutional Law - JURIST: The Law Professors' Network - Information and materials on Constitutional Law.
Meta Description: [ Constitutional Law guide from JURIST: The Law Professors' Network. ]
Constitutional of The Islamic Republic of Pakistan - Text of the 1973 constitution, with cases, legislative history, articles, and related resources.
International Constitutional Law - Brief constitutional history and background for many nations.
Meta Description: [ International Constitutional Law ]
Liberty Library of Constitutional Classics - Online editions of constitutions, classic books, treatises, and other works relating to constitutional law and underlying principles.
The Constitution of Pakistan - Full text with amendments and comments.
Meta Description: [ The 1973 Constitution of Pakistan - up-to-date with all amendments incorporated. ]
| Osborne Professor of Law at Stanford Law School, Richard Thompson Ford has published regularly on civil rights ... | |
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