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Equality before the law, also known as equality under the law, equality in the eyes of the law, legal equality, or legal egalitarianism, is the principle that all ...
Though equality under the law is an American legal tradition arguably dating to the Declaration of Independence, [5] formal equality for many groups remained elusive. Before passage of the Reconstruction Amendments, which included the Equal Protection Clause, American law did not extend constitutional rights to black Americans. [6]
In its second article, equality is the first right mentioned (followed by liberty, security, and property). In Article 3 states "All men are equal by nature and before the law". As such, for the authors of this declaration equality is not only before the law but it is also a natural right, that is to say, a fact of nature.
The words "equal justice under law" paraphrase an earlier expression coined in 1891 by the Supreme Court. [7] [8] In the case of Caldwell v.Texas, Chief Justice Melville Fuller wrote on behalf of a unanimous Court as follows, regarding the Fourteenth Amendment: "the powers of the States in dealing with crime within their borders are not limited, but no State can deprive particular persons or ...
Soon after, it was used by the translator of Livy in the form "Isonomy" [14] (although not a direct translation of isonomia) to describe a state of equal laws for all and responsibility of the magistrates. During the seventeenth century it was gradually replaced by the phrases "equality before the law", "rule of law" and "government of law". [14]
[2] [3] [4] It is sometimes stated simply as "no one is above the law" or "all are equal before the law". According to Encyclopædia Britannica , it is defined as "the mechanism, process, institution, practice, or norm that supports the equality of all citizens before the law, secures a nonarbitrary form of government, and more generally ...
Vasak's theories have primarily taken root in European law. In a speech two years later, his divisions follow the three watchwords of the French Revolution: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. [2] The three generations are reflected in some of the rubrics of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
Equality before law means that the law applies to all peoples equally and without exceptions. For example, the freedom of speech should apply the same to all members of a society. Laws can sometimes be designed to help minimize unequal application. [ 7 ]