Legal rights and the state

Human rights appeal to our moral sense, but their success depends greatly on the support of governments and the law. That is why legal recognition of rights matters so much.

• Many countries enshrine a Bill of Rights in their constitutions; since the constitution is the highest law, these rights gain primary importance. In India they are the Fundamental Rights, and other laws must respect them.
• A country may add rights arising from its own history and customs: India's Constitution bans untouchability, a traditional social practice.
• Some theorists define rights as claims recognised by the state. Legal recognition gives rights special status, but it is not the basis on which they are claimed: rights have expanded and been reinterpreted to include excluded groups.

Rights make demands on the state (what it must do):

• When I claim my right to education, I call on the state to provide basic education. Society may help too (schools, scholarships), but the primary responsibility rests with the state.
• My right to life obliges the state to make laws that protect me from injury by others and to punish those who harm me. If the right to life is understood as a right to a good quality of life, the state must also pursue policies for a clean environment and healthy living.

Rights also restrain the state (what it must not do):

• My right to liberty means the state cannot simply detain me at will; to curtail my liberty it must give reasons before a court.
• Rights ensure that the state's authority is exercised without violating the sanctity of individual life and liberty.

The state exists for the individual. The state may be sovereign and enforce its laws by force, but it exists not for its own sake but for the sake of the individual. People matter more; their well-being must be the government's aim. Rulers are accountable for their actions and must remember that law exists for the good of the people.

Example (new): if a town's officials want to demolish a family's house to widen a road, the family's rights mean the officials must follow the law, give notice and offer a fair hearing and compensation; they cannot simply send in bulldozers.