prometeus

Since the entire notion of rights IS a human construct, a societal convention, to have any meaning and enforceability have alway been and are written. From the Cyrus cylinder to the Magna Carta to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, they are all written.

winston53660

Ya know you are almost convincing evidence to make English a national language here in the grand ole' USA.

"slavory"

LOL @ you.

__________________
http://winstoncreative.com/

1069

Oh, man... that's nothing.
It gets worse. Much, much worse.

__________________
"I do love this idea that one can scream and scream and scream, with that utopia just one more scream away."
~ Scucca

cherokee

.....

Jerry

They existed to be writen down, yes, but they did not have to be writen down to exist.

__________________
Palin/Miller 2012!

prometeus

It is the "writing down" or rather the incorporation into the laws that gives it recognition and commonly understood meaning and applicability. Without that it remains meaningless, just like any existence without meaning or acknowledgment.

Korimyr the Rat

I'd argue that if one's personal beliefs do not alter the form or state of one's being-- a point I would dispute, by the way-- then subscribing to the premise of Natural Law does not change that one man is more or less capable than the next, and thus either more or less capable of demanding, enforcing, or exercising any rights he wishes.

Really? I would say that we abide only by those laws that are enforced, whether they are written down or not. And I'd certainly argue against the idea that the laws, either as written or as enforced, reflect the needs of society in any but the most general sense.

The laws as written reflect the needs of the men who wrote them, and the laws as enforced reflect the needs of the men who enforce them. Any other effect that they may have upon society at large is either an attempt to convince others to endorse the law, or purely coincidental.

__________________

Infinite Chaos

Nice get-out clause.... I'll remember that line if someone is beating me in a debate or argument.

"Pointing out the flaws in my argument only further evidences my wisdom in providing you with the tools to correct where I am wrong."

That's my version....

prometeus

I will not disagree with that entirely, I was looking at it from a more theoretical view while you took the reality of how it is often applied.

Felicity

In dignity and worth as endowed by our Creator (as clarified in the DoI also) thus we have the inalienable right to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. These things can be taken away by others who trespass against our inherent rights, but it is then an injustice done against us. Objectively, the interest of justice assures those rights.

__________________
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
While I thought that I was learning how to live, I have been learning how to die. ~*Leonardo Da Vinci*~