Or put another way, what differentiates Legal Rights and Natural Rights?
Legal (also called Civil or Statutory) rights are rights conveyed, or granted, by a particular political body, like a State or one of it’s subordinate authorities like a county or city, written into law or other legal statutes by a local governance committee, like a legislature or city council. These rights, codified into law or statute by the polity, are usually, but not always, contingent upon local laws, customs and beliefs.
Natural (also called Moral or Unalienable) rights are the exact polar opposite. These rights are the individuals from birth, as Thomas Jefferson put it, “endowed by their Creator” and are not dependent upon any polity for their continuance or codification. These rights are not contingent upon any local customs or beliefs as they are, ultimately, the individuals rights alone and so are some of the few “unchanging truths”. As they are unalienable rights, they can not be bought, sold or transferred. It is, however, entirely up the the individual as to whether or not they exercise these rights. Having said that, even though the individual may choose not to exercise certain of these rights, he or she still retains the right until their death.
Well all that sounds good, but what does it mean? There is a lot of definition in what I’ve written but not much else, as my old granddad used to say, “a lot of breading but not much meat”. To that point some examples might be necessary to clarify the definitions. I’ll start with my thoughts on what a Civil Right are, here goes.
Civil rights are, as stated above, things granted by a polity. The right to vote would be a civil right as it is codified and even defines who may, or may not, vote. James Madison pointed out that trial by jury was a civil right as it is derived from a social contract, ie the Constitution. Actually, I think he called it a social right but that’s splitting hairs in my opinion. Not to argue with the “Father of the Constitution” but I’m still sorting that one out, so I’ll defer to his take for now. You have the civil right to not be discriminated against in the workplace due to race, creed or gender. There are many others but you get the gist of what I’m talking about.
Natural rights are, again as stated above, not codified by any polity but rather are certain rights you have from birth. Thomas Jefferson used a broad brush and stated the right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. John Locke put it similarly when he said, “life, liberty and property”.
What do they mean when they say life? Well just that, as a free man or woman you own yourself. Your life is your own and no one else’s. As a free man (from now own when I say “man” I mean man or woman) you have the right to believe as you see fit for yourself, to sow and reap as you see fit. Liberty means that you are able to do all those things as you see fit without any polity telling you what you can or can not do with your life. They can not tell you how to think, act, believe, sow or reap. You can stand, or fall, at your own behest. The pursuit of happiness and property are similar in that they address the “creature comforts” of life, like a home or land. Not to say that “things” are what make us happy, but that we can achieve satisfaction in purchasing property (things) with the resources we have gained from our labors.
With these rights come responsibility. When I say that one can think or act as they see fit, it doesn’t mean that one can exercise these rights to the determent of another individual. As the old saying goes, “I have the right to swing my fist till just before it reaches your nose.” On the other hand, one has the right to defend, by any means necessary, your own life, the life of a loved one or your property.
Natural rights exist outside of any social contract, like the Constitution, or any other laws or statute passed by any polity. As such these rights are above any of these laws or statutes passed by any polity. On the other hand, legal rights exist because of a polity. Legal rights exist because of customs or beliefs, and so are subject to the fickleness of human nature.
