HISTORICAL

DEVELOPMENT OF
HUMAN RIGHT

PRESENTED BY
PARVATHY RAMACHANDRAN
1st sem LLM
 INTRODUCTION

svasti-prajā-bhyaḥ pari-pāla-yaṁtāṁ nyāyena mārgeṇa mahīṁ mahīśāḥ |

go-brāhmaṇebhyaḥ śubham-astu nityaṁ lokāḥ samastāḥ sukhino-bhavaṁtu ||

auṁ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ |

the words mean May All Beings

Everywhere Be Happy and Free, a
sentiment we can certainly all get
behind.
 01
Human rights are
rooted in the culture
and value of every 02
nation of the world.
The origin of human right
can be traced backed to th
to understand the true time of ancient Greeks .
significance of the concept (antigone)
of Human Right, we must
know its historical context
RELIGIOUS ORIGIN OF HUMAN RIGHTS
EARLY DOCUMENTS OF HUMAN RIGHTS
 “on our land, the first law put in place by
mankind was written; in our nation, the most
noble era of justice in the politics of nations was
laid down.”
The Code of Hammurabi
• one of the most significant and remarkable
contributions to the historical evolution of law
came from King Hammurabi ( c 1792-1750
BCE), who ruled ancient Babylon.

• His famous Code of Hammurabi is the oldest

set of complete laws known to exist in the
world.

• Hammurabi himself described his code as

representing 'the laws of Justice’
•
Laws take the form of if and then. If someone
does this, then this will happen
• The code was a systematic compilation of earlier
judgments, many of which dealt with enforcement of
contracts, including the marriage contract.

• On matters of criminal justice, those accused must be

caught in the act, and

• unfair judges were to be fined and removed from their

positions.
 HEBREW TORAH’S TEN COMMANDMENT
1. honor your father and your
mother
Among the most famous
text that shaped human 2. you shall not murdred
behavior in the ancient
world was the Hebrew 3. you shall not commit adulterty
Torah’s Ten
4. you shall not steal
commandments , later
part of the christian old 5. you shall not bear false
testament witness against your
neighboor
CYRUS CYLINDER
The world’s first bill of human rights was discovered on a clay tablet dating back from the
period of cyrus the Great.

In 539 BC, the armies of Cyrus the Great, the first king of ancient Persia, conqured the city of
Babylon.But it was his next actions that marked a major advance for man.

He freed the slaves, declared that all people had the right to choose their own religion and
establish racial equality.
These decree were recorded on a baked clay cylinder in Akkadian language, known today as
“cyrus cylinder”.
 RIGHT OF ATHENIAN CITIZENS
• Principal characteristic of
athen’s democracy
1.All the citizens have the same right
(isonomia).
2.All the citizens are allowed and
encouraged to speak in the Ekklesia
3.All the citizens have the same chance
to hold a political post
The democracy that flourished in
Athens during the fifth century
BCE was unprecedented in
allowing male citizens to vote,
participate in a legislature, and
serve in executive positions,
though a pragmatic aim was to
provide a forum in order to enlist
support from the people to pay
taxes for war.
 ASOKA’S EDICTS
• The Edicts of the Indian emperor, Asoka (304–232
bce), as carved on stone pillars, provide a clue to an
advocacy of human rights that focused on relief from
suffering.
Among the principles stated are humane treatment of
prisoners, religious toleration, and impartial justice.

Other edicts opposed capital punishment

and torture of humans as well as animals.
 CONSTITUTION OF MEDINA
• the first written constitution is the Constitution of Medina,
in which the prophet Mohammed (570–632) regulated the
government of the Medina city-state, when Christians,
Jews, Muslims, and pagans lived together peacefully.

• No person is allowed to be left in poverty, according to

the Constitution, but mur_x0002_der is to be avenged
with murder
400 BC CHINA AND SCHOOL OF MOHISM

 Mozi founded the school of

Mohism.

 Mozi’s philosophy emphasized

universal Love, social order , the
will of heaven, shareing and
honoring the worthy.
 THE MAGNA CARTA
also called Magna Carta Libertatum (Latin for "the Great Charter of
the Liberties"), is a charter granted by King John of England on 15
June 1215,
although it was against the will of King John.
The English Magna Carta of 1215 granted by King John is very
much significant in the development of human rights.

The Magna Carta dealt mostly with the rights of barons and the
Roman Catholic church. However, it also guaranteed the rights of
women and children who inherited property.

It established the principle that everyone is subject to the law, even

the king, and guarantees the rights of individuals, the right to justice
and the right to a fair trial.
Some of the rights the document contained were
follows,
Which ensured that their privilege would not be encroached or hammered

Right of the church to be free from government interference,

the right of all free citizens to own inherit property, to be free from excessive e
taxes.

The right of widows who owned property to choose not to remarry and
established principles of due process and equality before the law.

Contain provisions forbidding bribery and official misconduct

1628
PETITION OF RIGHTS

However, the movement of recognizing

individual rights which started with
Magna Carta continued through the
Petition of Right 1628 and culminated in
the Bill of Rights,
primary principles
1. no taxation without the consent from
parliament.
English Bill of Rights 1689:

The Bill of Rights contributed towards the development of fundamental rights.

This Bill was a part of major settlement between the Crown and Parliament and
like Magna Carta it also constituted a demarcation of powers.

Nonetheless, some of general principles such as prohibition of illegal and cruel

punishments assumed universal significance and subsequently appeared in
many instruments including UDHR.
English Bill of Rights
1689
It was a British law passed by the Parliament
and declared not only its supremacy over the
Crown in clear terms but also the rights and
liberties of the people.
The Bill of Rights established a constitutional
monarchy in Great Britain(where the King or
Queen has a largely ceremonial position) and
clearly established that the King and/or Queen
may not by themselves establish new courts of
law nor may they act as a judge
Some of the important freedoms/ liberties mentioned in the English
Bill of Rights were:

✓ Freedom to elect members of Parliament, without the king or

queen’s interference
✓ Freedom of speech in Parliament
✓ Freedom from royal interference with the law
✓ Freedom to bear arms for self-defense
✓ Freedom from cruel and unusual punishment and excessive bail
✓ Freedom from taxation by royal prerogative, without the
agreement of Parliament
 Virginia Bill of Rights 1776
For the first time, the Bill of Rights was adopted in the written
constitution of the state as 'the basis and foundation' of the
government.

It was the constitution of Virginia that

recognised the natural rights as bill of rights.

Consequently, it inspired the makers of the American

constitution to introduce the First Ten Amendment to The
Constitution.
 American declaration of independence 1776

Theory of natural rights, then, entered into the realm of constitutionalism with two
revolutionary documents, namely the American Declaration of Independence and
the French Declaration of Rights of Man, which asserted that there were certain
inalienable rights and it was the duty of the state and its organ to protect these
rights
The Declaration as drafted by Jefferson in 1776 states: "We hold these truths to
be self-evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their
creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and pursuit
of happiness
 The French Declaration of the
Rights of Man and of the Citizen

It is one of the most important papers of the French

Revolution.
This paper explains a list of rights, such as freedom
of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly
and separation of powers.
All men have these rights. It introduced a new social
and political order.
Further the declaration served as the basis for
many Constitutions, framed in different countries,
where the framers gave top priority to human rights.
Main theme: "men are born and remain free and
equal in rights
 The U.S. Bill of Rights, 1791
1. The first colonies to revolt against England were the thirteen States of
America.
2. On July 4, 1776 the United States Congress approved the Declaration of
Independence.
3. Thomas Jefferson was the primary author.
4. Main theme: individual rights and the right of revolution.
5. USA Constitution was written in 1787, the oldest written constitution in use.
For the Constitution to take effect, it had to be approved by nine of the 13
states. However, many states were not ready to approve the Constitution.
As a result, James Madison wrote 12 amendments and presented them to the First
Congress in 1789.
On December 15, 1791 ten of the amendments were passed and made part of the
Constitution. They would later become known as the Bill of Rights.
The overall theme of the Bill of Rights is that the citizen be protected against the
abuse of power by the officials of the States
It guarantees civil rights and liberties to the individual—like freedom of speech,
press, and religion

Some of the provisions are:

✓ Freedom of Expression
✓ the right to gather or assemble in a group to protest or for other reasons.
✓ citizens can own weapons to protect themselves.
✓ anyone accused of a crime is innocent until proven guilty
✓ the government cannot take anyone’s property without paying for its use.
 International humanitarian law or law of war

It comprises substantially of the Geneva convention and the Hague convention.

But its origin can be traced back to the second half of the nineteenth century. The
battle of soldering of 1859 in Europe resulted in several death and many were
wounded badly. This moved a Swiss philanthropist, count Henry Durant. He
eventually establishes the concept of the Red cross society a voluntary
organization that worked for the sick and wounded soldiers on the battlefield.

Gavena convention of 1926 and 1949 And article 25 of the covenant of the league
of nations created a duty for a humane approach .. These provided for the dos and
don’ts in a war to protect the individual who gets caught in war either as soldiers or
as an innocent civilian in arm conflict.
Certain rules are as follows:

Person’s not taking part in hostilities shall be protected

and treated humanely

No one shall be subjected to torture, corporal

punishment, or cruel or degrading treatment
The League of Nations+ International Labour
Organization:
• The League of Nations was an international organization,
created after the First World War to provide a forum for
resolving international disputes and ensuring peace and
security(made no provision for protection of Human
Rights) but failed to maintain peace during World War II.
• The International Labour Organization (ILO) is an
international organization created in Geneva in 1919 to
end the exploitation of workers in the industrializing
nations of that time and aimed for better working
conditions and standard of living.
In 1946, this organization has become a special organization of the
United Nations.
• The International Labour Organization (ILO) aims to promote social
justice through recognizing the labour rights by protecting work rights
and improving the lives of workers and their families.
• The executive body of ILO consists of representatives of
governments, employers and workers.
• The founding mission : Social justice is essential to universal and
lasting peace.
The United Nations (UN) : .

established in 1945
• It was founded to replace the League of Nations following
World War II and to prevent another conflict.
• One of its main purposes is the promotion and
encouragement of "respect for human rights” It was
founded to replace the League of Nations following World
War II and to prevent another conflict.and for fundamental
freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex,
language or religion."
• The name “United Nations", coined by United States
President Franklin D. Roosevelt was first used in 1942,
during the Second World War.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
1948
• The term 'human right' was first coined by Thomas Paine and used in his English
translation of the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

• However,it was Eleanor Roosevelt who suggested in 1947 that the term 'Rights of
Man' be changed to 'Human Rights'.
• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN General Assembly on
10 December 1948.
• The Commission on Human Rights was made up of 18 members from various
political, cultural and religious backgrounds. Eleanor Roosevelt, widow of American
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, chaired the UDHR drafting committee.
• The influence of the UDHR has been substantial. Its principles have been
incorporated into the constitutions of most of the more than 185 nations now in the UN.
conclusion
THANK YOU
 THANKS!
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