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Human rights in history: civic rights and the 'rights of man', the predecessors of human rights

Document Citado por Relacionados
Vincent
AutorChristopher Lazarski
Páginas31-45
HUMAN RIGHTS IN HIST ORY: CIVIC
RIGHTS AND THE ‘RIGHTS OF MAN,’ THE
PREDECESSORS OF HUMAN RIGHTS
HUMAN RIGHTS IN HIST ORY: CIVIC RIGHTS AND THE ‘RIGHTS OF MAN,’...
C L
Lazarski University, Poland
Writing even a brief outline on the history of human rights is not a
typical task for historians. In addition to their ordinary work, they must
decide where that history began. By doing so, they enter a territory
occupied mainly by the advocates of human rights and, by necessity,
they must take sides.
The notion of human rights itself is relatively new one, defi ned only
after World War II in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948).
However, the history of these rights, as well as their nature, is the subject
of heated disputes.
The roots of human rights are usually traced to the American and
especially French Revolutions. Sometimes they are perceived in the
emerging liberal thought, particularly that of John Locke. Rarely, these
roots are seen still farther back, in feudal society and the privileges
granted to higher estates (Clapham 2007, 5-7). Occasionally, some also
point out antiquity seeing the origins of human rights in the thoughts
of the Stoics and the Judeo-Christian tradition (Cranston, 1973, 10-11ś
Douzinas, 2000, 8-10ś Ishay, 2004, 19-20, 23- 24ś Human Rights).
As for the foundations of human rights, some human rights specialists
claim that they primarily have a moral nature, independent of the existing
political and legal order. Others, however, stress precisely their political
and legal dimensionsŚ the observance of human rights rests solely on the
actions of appropriate institutions and laws, while appealing to moral
grounds is utopian and has no practical impact (cf. Human Rightsś
Douzinas, 2000, 1-4ś Beitz, 2009, 1-12).
This dispute is not merely a clash of two philosophic and moral
theories. The second position naturally turns to history in search of the roots

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