Encyclopedia of the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy

Living Edition
| Editors: Mortimer Sellers, Stephan Kirste

Human Rights and Justice

Living reference work entry
First Online:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6730-0_907-1
How to cite

Introduction

This entry explores the relationship of human rights to the classical understanding of justice as the constant and perpetual determination to give to others their due (see Aquinas 2002, II–II, q. 58, a. 1; Justinian 1904, I.I.10). Thus understood, justice is a virtue of human actions and not primarily of social institutions or structures (cf. Rawls 1971, 3). This situates rights as entailments of relationships of justice, such that what one person is due to give to another is what the other has a right to. Human rights correspond both to natural duties of justice owed to all persons and to duties of justice specified for common good owed to others in one’s community. The willingness of modern human rights law to recognize rights to commit injustices is criticized as abandoning the deep conceptual relationship between human rights and justice.

What Is Due to Each and All

Our actions make manifest the source of those actions, the responsible person who intends and is the...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

References

  1. Aquinas T (2002) Summa theologiae. In: Dyson RW (ed) Aquinas: political writings. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UKCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  2. Aristotle (1996) Politics. In: Everson S (ed) Aristotle: the politics and the constitution of Athens. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UKGoogle Scholar
  3. Aristotle (2000) Nicomachean ethics. In: Crisp R (ed) Aristotle: Nicomachean ethics. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UKCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  4. Barak A (2012) Proportionality: human rights and their limitations. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UKCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  5. Feinberg J (1970) The nature and value of rights. J Value Inq 4:243–257CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  6. Finnis J (1998) Aquinas: moral, political, and legal theory. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UKGoogle Scholar
  7. Finnis J (2002) Aquinas on ius and Hart on rights. Rev Polit 64:407–410CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  8. Finnis J (2011a) Natural law and natural rights, 2nd edn. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UKGoogle Scholar
  9. Finnis J (2011b) Human rights & common good: collected essays, vol III. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UKCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  10. Gardner J (2012) Law as a leap of faith. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UKCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  11. Gardner J (2013) Finnis on justice. In: Keown J, George RP (eds) Reason, morality, and law: the philosophy of John Finnis. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UKGoogle Scholar
  12. Justinian (1904) The digest of Justinian, vol I (trans: Monro CH). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UKGoogle Scholar
  13. Köpcke M (2018) Why it takes law to realise human rights. In: Webber G et al Legislated rights. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UKGoogle Scholar
  14. Köpcke M (2019) Legal validity. Hart Publishing, Oxford, UK/PortlandCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  15. Miller BW (2008) Justification and rights limitation. In: Huscroft G (ed) Expounding the constitution. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UKGoogle Scholar
  16. Möller K (2014) Proportionality and rights inflation. In: Huscroft G, Miller BW, Webber G (eds) Proportionality and the rule of law. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UKCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  17. Nicholas B (1975) An introduction to Roman law. Clarendon Press, Oxford, UKGoogle Scholar
  18. O’Neill O (2016) Justice across boundaries: whose obligations? Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UKCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  19. Oberdiek J (2008) Specifying rights out of necessity. Oxf J Leg Stud 28:127–146CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  20. R v Sharpe [2001] 1 SCR 45 (Supreme Court of Canada)Google Scholar
  21. Rawls J (1971) A theory of justice. Belknap Press, Cambridge, MAGoogle Scholar
  22. Simmonds NE (2020) The puzzle of rights. Am J Jurisprud 65:181–201CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  23. Simon YR (1973) A general theory of authority. University of Notre Dame Press, Notre DameGoogle Scholar
  24. Tasioulas J (2012) Towards a philosophy of human rights. Curr Leg Probl 65:1–30CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  25. Tasioulas J (2013) Justice, equality, and rights. In: Crisp R (ed) The Oxford handbook of the history of ethics. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UKGoogle Scholar
  26. Tasioulas J (2015) On the foundations of human rights. In: Cruft R, Liao SM, Renzo M (eds) Philosophical foundations of human rights. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UKGoogle Scholar
  27. Thomas J (2015) Public rights, private relations. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UKCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  28. Thompson M (2006) What it is to wrong someone? A puzzle about justice. In: Wallace RJ et al (eds) Reason and value: themes from the moral philosophy of Joseph Raz. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UKGoogle Scholar
  29. Tuck R (1979) Natural rights theories. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UKCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  30. Urbina F (2017) A critique of proportionality and balancing. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UKCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  31. Webber G (2009) The negotiable constitution. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UKCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  32. Webber G (2018) Rights and persons. In: Webber G et al Legislated rights: securing human rights through legislation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UKGoogle Scholar
  33. Webber G, Yowell P (2018) Securing rights through legislation. In: Webber G et al Legislated rights: securing human rights through legislation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UKGoogle Scholar

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Faculty of LawQueen’s UniversityKingstonCanada

Section editors and affiliations

  • John Tasioulas
    • 1
  • Kristin Albrecht
    • 2
  1. 1.Faculty of PhilosophyUniversity of OxfordOxfordUnited Kingdom
  2. 2.Department of Social Sciences and Economics, Philosophy of Law and Social PhilosophySalzburg UniversitySalzburgAustria