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Theories of Human Rights

The document discusses several theories of human rights, including natural law theory, natural right theory, legal right theory, theory of justice, social contract theory, theory of utility, and theory of divine rights. Natural law theory proposes that people have inherent rights conferred by nature rather than legislation. Natural right theory influenced by Locke, Grotius, and Hobbes recognizes rights such as life, liberty, and property. Legal right theory examines how rights give power over objects. Theory of justice focuses on equal rights and opportunities. Social contract theory proposes individuals consent to state authority in exchange for protection of rights. Utility theory explains behavior based on preferences and maximizing satisfaction. Theory of divine rights asserts that kings derive authority from God.

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Nazra Noor
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380 views3 pages

Theories of Human Rights

The document discusses several theories of human rights, including natural law theory, natural right theory, legal right theory, theory of justice, social contract theory, theory of utility, and theory of divine rights. Natural law theory proposes that people have inherent rights conferred by nature rather than legislation. Natural right theory influenced by Locke, Grotius, and Hobbes recognizes rights such as life, liberty, and property. Legal right theory examines how rights give power over objects. Theory of justice focuses on equal rights and opportunities. Social contract theory proposes individuals consent to state authority in exchange for protection of rights. Utility theory explains behavior based on preferences and maximizing satisfaction. Theory of divine rights asserts that kings derive authority from God.

Uploaded by

Nazra Noor
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Introduction:

Theories of human rights are essential for defining the term human rights.
Human Rights Theories:
Following are the theories of human rights:
• Natural Law theory:
Natural law, in philosophy, system of right or justice held to be common to all humans and
derived from nature rather than from the rules of society, or positive law.
Natural law is a system of law based on a close observation of human nature, and based on
values intrinsic to human nature that can be deduced and applied independent of positive law.
According to natural law theory, all people have inherent rights, conferred not by act of
legislation but by "God, nature, or reason." 1
Popular contributions were of Aristotle, Saint Thomas Aquinas and Stoics.

• Natural Right Theory:


Locke wrote that all individuals are equal in the sense that they are born with certain
"inalienable" natural rights. That is, rights that are God-given and can never be taken or even
given away. Among these fundamental natural rights, Locke said, are "life, liberty, and property."
A Dutch jurist Grotius, also called the father of international law referred to natural law
as natural rights. He insisted that there was no written natural law from God, according to the
early natural law theory. Also, he put forward a replacement of law with rights as he believed
that these mainly discussed the rights of a human. Through these subjective individual rights
were recognized, as well as developing the modern school of natural rights. 2
Thomas Hobbes also contributed in the development of natural right theory.

• Legal Right Theory:


According to his theory “rights is an inherent attribute of the human will”. The purpose of the
law is to permit the expression of free will. According to Puchta the legal rights gives power to
the person over the object which by means of right can be subjected to the will of the person
who is enjoying the right.
Two types of schools of legal right philosophy are interest and will theory. The will theory, also
known as the “choice theory,” allows rights-holders free choice to insist upon their rights, or to
waive them. For example, your right to some land is your freedom to do with it as you wish.
Everyone is wrong to interfere with your freedom unless they have a right. 3
Someone would have a right to something (x), against a second person, if that person had a
legal duty to provide the first person with x. According to Ihering, the purpose of the law is to
protect the interest and not the 'wills' of the citizens

• Theory of justice:
A Theory of Justice holds that every individual has an equal right to basic liberties, and that they
should have the right to opportunities and an equal chance as other individuals of similar ability.
There are four types of justice theory i.e.,
• Rawlsian egalitarianism (justice as fairness)
• Dworkinian egalitarianism (or equality of resources)
• Steiner-Vallentyne libertarianism (common ownership)
• and Nozickian libertarianism (entitlements). 4

• Social Contract theory:


The social contract is a theory or model that originated during the Age of Enlightenment and
usually concerns the legitimacy of the authority of the state over the individual. Social contract
arguments typically posit that individuals have consented, either explicitly or tacitly, to
surrender some of their freedoms and submit to the authority (of the ruler, or to the decision of
a majority) in exchange for protection of their remaining rights or maintenance of the social
order. 5

• Theory of utility:
Utility theory bases its beliefs upon individuals’ preferences. It is a theory postulated in
economics to explain behavior of individuals based on the premise people can consistently rank
order their choices depending upon their preferences.
Utility theory rests upon the idea that people behave as if they make decisions by assigning
imaginary utility values to the original monetary values. The decision maker sees different levels
of monetary values, translates these values into different, hypothetical terms (“utils”), processes
the decision in utility terms (not in wealth terms), and translates the result back to monetary
terms. So while we observe inputs to and results of the decision in monetary terms, the
decision itself is made in utility terms. And given that utility denotes levels of satisfaction,
individuals behave as if they maximize the utility, not the level of observed dollar amounts. 6
• Theory of divine rights:
Divine right of kings, in European history, a political doctrine in defense of monarchical
absolutism, which asserted that kings derived their authority from God and could not therefore
be held accountable for their actions by any earthly authority such as a parliament.
Thomas Hobbes (1588 – 1679) an English Philosopher, presented the idea of Divine rights of a
ruler or ruling party. Throughout his life he thought to attain an absolute monarch, it is
important to constitute a true and correct form of government. 7

References:
1 https://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/natural-law.asp
https://www.britannica.com/topic/natural-law

2 https://www.crf-usa.org/foundations-of-our-constitution/natural-rights.html#:~:text=Locke
%20wrote%20that%20all%20individuals,%2C%20liberty%2C%20and%20property.%22

3 https://thefactfactor.com/facts/law/legal_concepts/jurisprudence/theories-of-legal-
rights/17474/

4 https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/other/a-theory-of-justice/

5 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_contract

6 https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_risk-management-for-enterprises-and-individuals/s07-
01-utility-theory.html

7 https://www.britannica.com/topic/divine-right-of-kings

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