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Full Idea
Whereas Bentham saw rights as a 'child of law', Herbert Hart's view takes the form of seeing human rights as, in effect, 'parents of law'; they motivate specific legislations.
Gist of Idea
Hart (against Bentham) says human rights are what motivate legal rights
Source
report of H.L.A. Hart (The Concept of Law [1961]) by Amartya Sen - The Idea of Justice 17 'Ethics'
Book Ref
Sen, Amartya: 'The Idea of Justice' [Penguin 2010], p.363
A Reaction
[He cites Hart 1955 'Are there any natural rights?'] I agree with Hart. It is clearer if the parents of law are not referred to as 'rights'. You can demand a right, but it is only a right when it is awarded to you.
Related Idea
Idea 21003 Only laws can produce real rights; rights from 'law of nature' are imaginary [Bentham]
| 20932 | Positive law needs secondary 'rules of recognition' for their correct application [Hart,HLA, by Zimmermann,J] |
| 21004 | Hart (against Bentham) says human rights are what motivate legal rights [Hart,HLA, by Sen] |
| 20931 | Hart replaced positivism with the democratic requirement of the people's acceptance [Hart,HLA, by Zimmermann,J] |
| 23523 | The principle of legality requires crimes to be precisely defined in advance of any action [Hart,HLA] |
| 23524 | Some private moral issues are no concern of the law [Hart,HLA] |
| 23521 | Do morals influence law? Is morality an aspect of law? Can law be morally criticised? [Hart,HLA] |
| 23522 | In an organised society all actions have some effect on other people [Hart,HLA] |
| 23525 | Is the enforcement of morality morally justifiable? [Hart,HLA] |
| 23529 | Conduct is not isolated from its effect on the moral code [Hart,HLA] |
| 23527 | Moral wickedness of an offence is always relevant to the degree of punishment [Hart,HLA] |
| 23528 | The value of liberty allows freedom of action, even if that distresses other people [Hart,HLA] |
| 23526 | Modern law still suppresses practices seen as immoral, and yet harmless [Hart,HLA] |
| 23530 | The great danger of democracy is that the oppression of the minority becomes unobjectionable [Hart,HLA] |