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The idea of a just society first gained modern attention when philosophers such as John Stuart Mill asked, "What is a 'just society'?" [3] Their writings covered several perspectives including allowing individuals to live their lives as long as they didn't infringe on the rights to others, to the idea that the resources of society should be distributed to all, including those most deserving first.
Such equality is necessary in order to create a free government. All men must be equal to each other in natural law. Jefferson also may have been influenced by Thomas Paine's Common Sense, which was published in early 1776: Benjamin Franklin by Joseph Duplessis, 1778. He is credited with stylizing the final form of the quote. [1]
Since by our (human) nature, we seek to maximize our well being, rights are prior to law, natural or institutional, and people will not follow the laws of nature without first being subjected to a sovereign power, without which all ideas of right and wrong are meaningless – "Therefore before the names of Just and Unjust can have place, there ...
His answer is no; a law only need to be obeyed if it is legitimate in three ways: The Purpose: The law must be for the common good. The Author: It must be in the scope of the authority making the law. The Form: And its burden should be equal and apply to all. Aquinas says that the disobedience should not itself cause harm or lead people into evil.
An alternative phrase "life, liberty, and property", is found in the Declaration of Colonial Rights, a resolution of the First Continental Congress. The Fifth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution declare that governments cannot deprive any person of "life, liberty, or property" without due process of law.
Because laws represent the restraint of "natural liberty", [19] they represent the leap made from humans in the state of nature into civil society. In this sense, the law is a civilizing force. Therefore Rousseau believed that the laws that govern a people help to mould their character.
Natural law theories base human rights on a "natural" moral, religious or even biological order which is independent of transitory human laws or traditions. Socrates and his philosophic heirs, Plato and Aristotle , posited the existence of natural justice or natural right ( dikaion physikon , δικαιον φυσικον , Latin ius naturale ).
Equality before the law is one of the basic principles of some definitions of liberalism. [2] [3] It is incompatible with legal slavery. Article 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) states: "All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law". [1]