What are the main characteristics of rights, and which individuals or groups in a given society need them most

The first 200 words of this essay...

What are the main characteristics of rights, and which individuals or groups in a given society need them most?

In order to address the question properly this essay is going to consist of five differnet parts. First we are going to look at the philosophy of rights, then we are going to consider the way rights have been developed in the last century and the ever growing problem of confliction between different rights.This will be followed by a discussion about the theory of special rights. In conclusion we are going to look at some case studies citing the need for greater protection for certain groups of people.

Philosophy of Rights

The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines a right as including "a thing one may legally or morally claim; the state of being entitled to a privilege or immunity or authority to act."1 This definition recognises the fundamental distinction between legal and moral rights; a legal right will arises when there is a legal rule prescribing a certain mode of beahavior, that restriction could be either positive or negative. Positive in the sense that it imposes, a legal duty on another party to fulfil an entitlement or negative in