SPECIAL ETHICS REVIEWER

HUMAN RIGHTS
RIGHT- originally, right means straight, something which is rectified or unbent
in opposition to wrong which means crooked, devious, distorted.
(OBJECTIVELY) what is just, reasonable, equitable, what ought to be, what is
justifiable, something that is owed or due to others.
(SUBJECTIVELY) a moral power or well-founded claim to do, hold, or receive
something from others.
RIGHT IS NOT MIGHT- might is a physical force while right is a moral power
restraining the will of others by an appeal to their reason and moral conscience.
ALL RIGHTS COME FROM LAW- primarily from the natural law and
secondarily from positive laws.
- Positive laws are conclusions or determinations of the natural law.

FOUR ELEMENTS (IN THE COMPOSITION OF THE RIGHT)

1. SUBJECT- A person who is vested with the moral power to do, to
hold, or to exact something as his own. Only human beings are subjects
of right.
2. OBJECT- matter of right is that to which a person has a right.
To perform or to omit something
To hold, keep, or use something
To exact or to demand something from others.

3. TITLE- is the objective ground or reason upon which the right is based
so that a person has the moral power to do, to hold, or to exact
something as his own.
4. TERM- is the person in whom is found the duty corresponding to the
right.
ALL PERSONS ARE EQUAL UNDER MORAL LAW- all human beings, even unborn
babies, have right to life, to the integrity of the body, to property, etc.
GENERAL DIVISION OF RIGHTS
1. LEGAL CIVIL RIGHTS- privileges sanctioned by the positive laws of each
country.
2. HUMAN NATURAL RIGHTS- fundamental privileges immediately derived
from the rational nature of man and the natural moral law and guaranteed to all
 men for the attainment of their temporal and eternal goals, as the right to life, to
livelihood, to education.

SUBDIVISION OF RIGHTS
a. Connatural rights- come to man by reason of his human nature.
b. Acquired- are established upon a fact
c. Inalienable rights- are those which cannot be renounced or transferred because
they are necessary for the fulfilment of man’s primordial obligations
d. Alienable rights- are rights which can be renounced or transferred for sufficiently
grave reasons.
e. Perfect rights- are rights that are backed by coercive power, as the rights of
parents over their children.
f. Imperfect rights- rights which lack the support of might, as the claim of a
benefactor to the gratitude of his protégé.
g. Public rights- rule the actions of a perfect society, like the church, the state, or the
international society.
h. Private rights- rule the actions of an imperfect society.

DEFINITION AND PURPOSE OF HUMAN RIGHTS- a human right is a moral

and inviolable power to hold, to do or to act something from others.
God gave man the rights and privileges needed for the fulfilment of his moral
obligations and for the attainment of his last goal.

DEFENSE AND VINDICATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

- Human rights can be defended from unjust violation by the ordinary power of
the law and when this fails, by physical force.

LIST OF HUMAN RIGHTS

1. The right to worship God and religious freedom
2. The right of personal liberty and religious freedom
3. The right to one’s own life
4. The right to make a livelihood
5. The right to property
6. The right to one’s honor
7. The right to choose one’s way of life
8. The right to marriage
9. The right to educate one’s children
10. The right to develop one’s personality morally, physically, and culturally.
11. The right to free expression
12. The right to petition for the redress of grievances
13. The right of association
14. The right of the members of the community to a voice in the
administration of the governmental functions or the right to free political
assembly.

Human rights are limited:

a. By the purpose for which the right is granted
b. By the matter of the right
c. By the legislator
d. By man’s moral duties

THE NATURE OF DUTY- objectively considered, duty