İNSAN HAKLARI

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, accepted in 1948, has been the prime source for the following documents of human rights. It has been foremost the most common compromise after the both political and ideological conflicts lasting through the centuries.

Even though we consider the Magna Carta Libertatum as the first example of the human rights documents, it is also important to search the previous documents that could be seen as human rights documents. There are several documents on human rights which were declared before the Magna Carta Libertatum. One – probably the most important one of them – was the Code of Hammurabi which had been declared about 1750s BC by the emperor of Babylonian Kingdom, Hammurabi. There is still an intense debate about whether this code should be called a human rights document or it is just an example of a criminal justice article. Since this code is composed of 282 articles, many varied postulates were mentioned in this subjected code.

King John (1166-1216) – King of England during that period – had several dissensions with the barons, just because of the protracted wars and high taxation that drive the society into a corner. Besides that, English army under the King John’s rule lost many lands to France. These pressures paved the way to an inner resistance and ended up with an agreement called the Magna Carta in 1215.

English Bill of Rights can be regarded as the first document on the right of individuals about their life and religious thoughts. “That election of members of Parliament ought to be free.” (English Bill of Rights, 1689) Free election for the parliament – also it is still one of the core political values– was secured in this document. “That the commission for erecting the late Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes, and all other commissions and courts of like nature, are illegal and pernicious and That the subjects which are Protestants may have arms for their defence suitable to their conditions and as allowed by law” (English Bill of Rights, 1689).

But before the United States Declaration of Independence, we should mention the Virginia Declaration of Rights published just a month before it, in the year 1776. Especially the first article of this declaration might have been the cradle of thought behind all human rights documents: “That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.” (Virginia Declaration of Rights, 1776) This article triggered not only the United States Declaration of Independence, but also all other modern human rights legal writings. That is the reason of its being considered as the first human rights document in the modern sense, because of its talking about equal rights of every human being, not only from rights of some people as barons.

After a long period of colonial wars and sufferings, a new state was established on July 1776. Just a month after the Virginia Declaration of Rights, United States gained his independence from England with the Declaration of Independence.

Another momentous document in human rights history is the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizens declared on August 26 by the French Constituent Assembly, in 1789. The declaration ‘the rights of man and of citizens” is one of the most significant results of the French Revolution. It has been also criticised from different points of view by different thinkers. The political scientists and the historians, thoroughly appreciating its importance, have repeatedly come to the conclusion that the Declaration had no small part in the anarchy with which France was visited soon after the storming of the Bastille. They point to its abstract phrases as ambiguous and therefore dangerous, and as void of all political reality and practical statesmanship. Its empty pathos, they say, confused the mind, disturbed calm judgment, aroused passions, and stifled the sense of duty, -for of duty there is not a word. On the contrary, others especially Frenchmen, have exalted it as a revelation in the world’s history, as a catechism of the “principles of 1789” which form the eternal foundation of the state’s structure, and they have glorified it as the most precious gift that France has given to mankind (Jellinek, 1901, 1-2).

English Bill of Rights can be regarded as the first document on the right of individuals about their life and religious thoughts. “That election of members of Parliament ought to be free.” (English Bill of Rights, 1689) Free election for the parliament – also it is still one of the core political values– was secured in this document. “That the commission for erecting the late Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes, and all other commissions and courts of like nature, are illegal and pernicious and That the subjects which are Protestants may have arms for their defence suitable to their conditions and as allowed by law” (English Bill of Rights, 1689).

But before the United States Declaration of Independence, we should mention the Virginia Declaration of Rights published just a month before it, in the year 1776. Especially the first article of this declaration might have been the cradle of thought behind all human rights documents: “That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.” (Virginia Declaration of Rights, 1776) This article triggered not only the United States Declaration of Independence, but also all other modern human rights legal writings. That is the reason of its being considered as the first human rights document in the modern sense, because of its talking about equal rights of every human being, not only from rights of some people as barons.

The American Bills of Rights do not attempt merely to set forth certain principles for the state’s organization, but they seek above all to draw the boundary line between state and individual. According to them the individual is not the possessor of rights through the state, but by his own nature he has inalienable and indefeasible rights.

As it is seen above, especially the article 282, it is difficult to call these codes as a human rights document, looking from our modern human rights perspective. However, if we are able to understand the Zeitgeist of that era, the Code of Hammurabi can be considered a significant and leading document
for its own epoch.

All declarations or any written statements before the 13th century, until the Magna Carta Libertatum, cannot be regarded as pure human rights documents as it was in the case of the Code of Hammurabi.

As stated above, Magna Carta Libertatum, also known as the Articles of Barons, is far away from the current human rights thought from which we deduce the modern law practices.

The article 39 of the Magna Carta states that ‘No freeman shall be arrested or imprisoned or deprived of his freehold or outlawed or banished or in any way ruined, nor will we take or order action against him, except by the lawful judgment of his equals and according to the law of the land’ and guarantees that the government will not act against its citizens except in accordance with the law. (Sol,2016, 67).

This article demonstrates the end of the unlimited authority of King, which might be called a revolution in the history of rights discourse as well.

With this agreement – according to Article 61 – the system of checks and balances was created. As of Magna Carta agreement, the King’s decisions and actions were began to overseen by barons and the King lost his impunity.

Aquinas classifies four forms of law as eternal law, natural law, divine law and human law. These are the basic parts of law and related to human beings; namely their doing good and avoiding evil in their actions.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, accepted in 1948, has been the prime source for the following documents of human rights. The correct answer is Choice C.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, accepted in 1948, has been the prime source for the following documents of human rights. Almost all human rights documents till the Universal Declaration of Human Rights were final whistles for their previous epoch, and have been a fire starter for a new world. Whether natural law theories of ancient Greeks, Hammurabi’s Codes for ancient Babylon and religious orders can be considered a kind of human rights document is controversial, though they all were aiming to create or to reach a common and/or individual “good”. The correct answer is Choice E.

Magna Carta Libertatum was accepted in 1215.

Magna Carta Libertatum is also known as the Articles of Barons. The correct answer is Choice D.

English Bill of Rights can be regarded as the first document on the right of individuals about their life and religious thoughts.