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_—_— Te ao ee TS O TL SE ai, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 79, , r ‘right at all. This theory was fully developed by, Ritchie and Salmond. However, Bentham, red to be the greatest champion of the legal ., hts. He rejected the theory of natural tights, , g to Bentham, “Rights are the fruits of the, alone. There are no rights without, rary to law- no rights anterior to law.”, 1 ral. They are in the form of demands, ety and individuals living in society, which get, ; through the laws., ‘The essential features of this theory are: i) The state, ; down the bill of rights; rights are neither, because it is the state which, ) The state lays down the legal, guarantees rights and it is the state
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80, , guaranteed by the state according to the community’s, concept of justice. Political theory 1s interested to know, what rights of men are essential for the fulfilment of the, , social purpose of human personality., , The view of Spencer is that the state does not create, rights. Itexists in order to maintain rights. N.Wilde writes,, “The law does not create our rights, but only recognises, and protects them. The right themselves exists whether, they are thus legalised or not. They are enforced because, they are rights and not rights because they are enforced.”, , What makes a claim a right is not the fact that it, is recognised by law, but that it is morally justifiable. A, typical right should combine legal and moral recognition., To say that the state is the sole creator of rights is to, make it absolute which is not desirable. Technically,, the sovereignty of the state is supreme, but there are, certain practical limitations imposed upon it by customs,, traditions, history and morality., , Another defect with the legal theory of rights is that, it does not cover the whole scope of rights. Whether rights, are derived from history, customs or laws, they all require, a moral basis. The legal theory of rights does not enable, , us to decide whether the rights that are recognised are, tights which ought to be recognised., , Marxist Theory of Rights, , Marxist theory of rights arose j id-ni, ‘ f se in the mid-nineteent?, century when liberal-individualist rights had largely bee?, , established, but mainly se, Capitalist system, iss a 2 ne, , called ‘rights of man’ h, , a particular class- the bourgeois;, eoisie, *, owners of the means of Sadie e capitalist class,
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concerned with only his self, a special status and Privileged position in society. This, image of man perfectly fitted into the scheme of a ‘free, market society’ which Sought to glorify the ‘exploits’ of, man, which sought to identify social interest with the, sum, total of the interests of different individuals and,, in the event, established the hegemony of a handful of, ‘enterprising’ individuals-rich in money and manipulative, power., , On the other hand, Marxist theory sought to secure, the freedom of man from these conditions of injustice, and exploitation. It insisted on the social nature of man., In other words, man. by nature tends to seek his fulfilment, through a ‘rational’ social organization. This view of man, is not conducive to any theory of rights of man apart, from the right of the society itself to a rational system of, production where the nature of authority, rules of social, , _ intercourse and social relations will automatically conform, to the rational character., , Tespect seeking to attain, , , , , , , , , , , , ding to Marxist, the state being an instrument, of the economically dominant class is itself, : ion and the law which it formulates is also, , . So considered, the feudal state, through feudal, s the system of rights favouring the feudal, wise, the capitalist state, through capitalist, the system of rights favouring the capitalist, ding to Marx, the class which controls the, cture of society also controls political power, power to protect and promote its own, Wan - interest of all,, , _ unlike the capitalist society,, , e
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82, , not of any particular class but of all ihe pee, , the classless society. The Marxists say al, state, as an instrument of social political, change, would seek to establish social, based on the principle of ‘from each to, according to his work., , Yhe Soviet system has been severer el, its suppression of freedom of opinion and |, western countries have branded it a country, ‘Iron Curtain.’ The new rights have been gr, citizens, especially the freedom of spee, association and demonstration etc., , Marxist theory of rights also s, deterministic ideology, though its emp, exploitative socialist system is its fea, , economic factor alone provides the ba:, the superstructure is the reflection of o, , no for non-economic forces also, etermining the superstructure a, , References, , Bellammy, Richard, , ; and M f, , Concepts, Manchester: Man, ee : Manch, , ss Rajeev and Ashok, ory- An introduction Nall, : a:, , od, °c Andrews Political, , Nda, .aee