- Equality before the law
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Equality before the law or equality under the law or legal egalitarianism is the principle under which each individual is subject to the same laws.[1]
Article 7 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that "All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law."[1]
According to the UN, this principle is particularly important to the minorities and to the poor.[1]
Thus, the law and the judges must treat everybody by the same laws regardless of their gender, ethnicity, religion, socio-economic status etc, without privilege.
Equality before the law is one of the basic principles of classical liberalism.[2][3]
Contents
History
In his famous funeral oration of 431 BC, the Athenian leader Pericles discussed this concept. This may be the first known instance.
"If we look to the laws, they afford equal justice to all in their private differences; if no social standing, advancement in public life falls to reputation for capacity, class considerations not being allowed to interfere with merit; nor again does poverty bar the way"[4]
Classical liberalism
Classical liberalism calls for equality before the law, not for equality of outcome.[2] Classical liberalism opposes pursuing group rights at the expense of individual rights.[3]
Feminism
Original Women's rights movement was part of the classical liberal movement calling for equality before the law regardless of gender.[5]
Still in 1988 the later supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote: "Generalizations about the way women or men are ... cannot guide me reliably in making decisions about particular individuals".[6] In an ACLU's s Women's Rights Project in the 1970s Ginsburg challenged the laws that gave health service benefits to wives of servicemen but not to husbands of servicewomen and prohibited women from certain businesses including running a bar alone.[5]
However, some radical feminists have opposed equality before the law, because they think that it maintains the weak position of the weak.[7]
Nebraska
The phrase "Equality before the law" is the motto of the State of Nebraska and appears on its state seal. Equality also matters on public as it tells us about the body of contitution.
Parricide law
The Article 200 of the Criminal Code of Japan—the penalty regarding parricide—was claimed to be unconstitutional for violating the equality under the law, and, the Supreme Court of Japan judged the Article unconstitutional in 1973 as a result of the trial of the Tochigi patricide case.[8]
See also
- All men are created equal
- Equal justice under law
- Equality of opportunity
- Global justice
- Isonomia
- Meritocracy
- Prerogative - the inverse of equality before the law
- Rule according to higher law
- Rule of law
References
- ^ a b c 7., description of the UN declaration article 7, the United Nations
- ^ a b Chandran Kukathas, "Ethical Pluralism from a Classical Liberal Perspective," in The Many and the One: Religious and Secular Perspectives on Ethical Pluralism in the Modern World, ed. Richard Madsen and Tracy B. Strong, Ethikon Series in Comparative Ethics (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2003), 61 (ISBN 0-691-09993-6).
- ^ a b Mark Evans, ed., Edinburgh Companion to Contemporary Liberalism: Evidence and Experience (London: Routledge, 2001), 55 (ISBN 1-57958-339-3).
- ^ Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War, Written 431 B.C.E, Translated by Richard Crawley (1874), retrieved via Project Gutenberg.
- ^ a b Feminist Jurisprudence: Equal Rights or Neo-Paternalism?, Michael Weiss and Cathy Young, Policy Analysis No. 256, Cato Institute, June 19, 1996, pages 1-2
- ^ Jeff Rosen, "The Book of Ruth," New Republic, August 2, 1993, p. 19.
- ^ Martha Chamallas, "Feminist Constructions of Objectivity: Multiple Perspectives in Sexual and Racial Harassment Litigation," Texas Journal of Women and the Law 1 (1992): 95, 131, 125.
- ^ Dean, Meryll (2002). Japanese legal system. Routledge via Google Books. p. 535
See also
Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights General principles Article 1: Freedom, Egalitarianism, Dignity and Brotherhood
Article 2: Universality of rightsInternational Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Article 1 and 2: Right to freedom from discrimination · Article 3: Right to life, liberty and security of person · Article 4: Freedom from slavery · Article 5: Freedom from torture and cruel and unusual punishment · Article 6: Right to personhood · Article 7: Equality before the law · Article 8: Right to effective remedy from the law · Article 9: Freedom from arbitrary arrest, detention and exile · Article 10: Right to a fair trial · Article 11.1: Presumption of innocence · Article 11.2: Prohibition of retrospective law · Article 12: Right to privacy · Article 13: Freedom of movement · Article 14: Right of asylum · Article 15: Right to a nationality · Article 16: Right to marriage and family life · Article 17: Right to property · Article 18: Freedom of thought, conscience and religion · Article 19: Freedom of opinion and expression · Article 20.1: Freedom of assembly · Article 20.2: Freedom of association · Article 21.1: Right to participation in government · Article 21.2: Right of equal access to public office · Article 21.3: Right to universal suffrage
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Article 1 and 2: Right to freedom from discrimination · Article 22: Right to social security · Article 23.1: Right to work · Article 23.2: Right to equal pay for equal work · Article 23.3: Right to just remuneration · Article 23.4: Right to join a trade union · Article 24: Right to rest and leisure · Article 25.1: Right to an adequate standard of living · Article 25.2: Right to special care and assistance for mothers and children · Article 26.1: Right to education · Article 26.2: Human rights education · Article 26.3: Right to choice of education · Article 27: Right to science and culture ·
Context, limitations and duties Article 28: Social order · Article 29.1: Social responsibility · Article 29.2: Limitations of human rights · Article 29.3: The supremacy of the purposes and principles of the United Nations
Article 30: Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.Categories:- Political theories
- Political science terms
- Egalitarianism
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