NEWS RELEASE FROM THE LIBERTARIAN ALLIANCE
In Association with the Libertarian International
Release Date: Tuesday 12th August 2008
Release Time: Immediate
Contact Details:
Dr Sean Gabb on 07956 472 199 or via sean@libertarian.
For other contact and link details, see the foot of this message
Release url: http://www.libertarian.co.uk/news/nr070.htm
STATEMENT BY THE LIBERTARIAN ALLIANCE ON A PROPOSED NEW "BILL OF RIGHTS" FOR BRITAIN
The Libertarian Alliance, the radical free market and civil liberties
policy institute, today issues the following statement on the legitimacy
of the proposed new "Bill of Rights" for Britain.
[Note: The British Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights has
called for a new Bill of Rights, to supplement or replace the Human
Rights Act 1998. This new Bill would contain social and economic
"rights", including the "right" to health, housing, education and an
adequate standard of living, as well as a "healthy" environment. It
would also contain such "rights" as international human rights treaties
may in future decide.]
Libertarian Alliance Director, Dr Sean Gabb, says:
"The most fundamental right within the western liberal tradition is the
right of individuals to be left alone in the enjoyment of life, liberty
and justly-acquired property. The most fundamental obligation is to
leave others alone in their enjoyment of the same.
"The sole function of a bill of rights is to protect this fundamental
right from violation by the State, which in every time and place has
been the foremost threat to life, liberty and property. Therefore, bills
of rights have generally enumerated aspects of the right to be left
alone, together with promises of due process in all areas where state
and individual are brought together.
"Some bills of rights have been more technically comprehensive than
others. Some have been more effective than others. But, historically, it
has been fear of the State that has lain behind calls for any bill of
rights.
"The effect - and probably the intention - of this proposed bill of
rights is to weaken protection of genuine rights by the enumeration of
non-rights.
"We have a right to freedom of speech. We have a right to freedom of
association. We have a right to fair trials in which the State is at a
procedural disadvantage. We have no right whatever to education or
healthcare that go beyond what we have freely contracted to obtain. We
have no right not to be poor that goes beyond our right not to be
deprived of our justly-acquired property.
"It may be politically expedient, in some times and places, for the tax
payers to be forced to subsidise the education and healthcare and
general support of the poor. But the expectations thereby created cannot
be described as rights. These expectations can only be met by the
violation of the right of the tax payers to their property.
"And the right to a 'healthy' environment is an expectation that
legitimises wholesale violations of life, liberty and property.
"Nothing in the news reports we have seen suggests that this proposed
new bill of rights will contain prohibitions of racial, religious or
sexual "discrimination". But we find it unlikely, given the current
state of ruling class opinion, that these will not be there. They also
are not rights, and involve the systematic violation of genuine rights.
No one has a right not to be hated or despised. No one has a right to
force anyone to associate with him. No one has an obligation to remain
silent on matters of politics, religion, science or history, among much
else.
"Nor is anything said about the supposed need to balance rights against
responsibilities. Again, it is unlikely that this will be left out. The
European concept of "abus de droit" has been in practice a means of
limiting the exercise of rights in any way found inconvenient by the
State. It has never so far had any place in English law. The proper
place for setting out the details of our obligation to leave others
alone is the civil and criminal law.
"The Human Rights Act 1998 is imperfect in its protection of rights.
Even so, it is a document that recognises the rights of the western
liberal tradition. Until it can be replaced by a more perfectly liberal
document, it should be left in place. If any change is required, it
should only be to give the courts power to strike down any subsequent
law explicitly as well as implicitly reducing its protections."
END OF COPY
Note(s) to Editors
Dr Sean Gabb is the Director of the Libertarian Alliance. His latest
book, Cultural Revolution, Culture War: How Conservatives Lost England,
and How to Get It Back, may be downloaded for free from
http://tinyurl.com/34e2o3. It may also be bought. His other books are
available from Hampden Press at http://www.hampdenpress.co.uk.
He can be contacted for further comment on 07956 472 199 or by email at
sean@libertarian.co.uk
Extended Contact Details:
The Libertarian Alliance is Britain's most radical free market and civil
liberties policy institute. It has published over 800 articles,
pamphlets and books in support of freedom and against statism in all its
forms. These are freely available at http://www.libertarian.co.uk
Our postal address is
The Libertarian Alliance
Suite 35
2 Lansdowne Row
Mayfair
London W1J 6HL
Tel: 07956 472 199
Associated Organisations
The Libertarian International - http://www.libertarian.to - is a sister
organisation to the Libertarian Alliance. Its mission is to coordinate
various initiatives in the defence of individual liberty throughout the
world.
Sean Gabb's personal website - http://www.seangabb.co.uk - contains
about a million words of writings on themes interesting to libertarians
and conservatives.
Hampden Press - http://www.hampdenpress.co.uk.- the publishing house of
the Libertarian Alliance.
Liberalia - http://www.liberalia.com - maintained by by LA Executive
member Christian Michel, Liberalia publishes in-depth papers in French
and English on libertarianism and free enterprise. It is a prime source
of documentation on these issues for students and scholars.
This news release will also be placed on the Libertarian Alliance blog -
http://libertarianalliance.wordpress.com/
--
Sean Gabb
Director, The Libertarian Alliance
sean@libertarian.co.uk
Tel: 07956 472 199
http://www.libertarian.co.uk
http://www.seangabb.co.uk
http://www.hampdenpress.co.uk
http://libertarianalliance.wordpress.com
FREE download of my book - "Cultural Revolution, Culture War: How Conservatives
Lost England, and How to Get It Back" - http://tinyurl.com/34e2o3
Wikipedia Entry: http://tinyurl.com/23jvoz
Release url: http://www.libertar
STATEMENT BY THE LIBERTARIAN ALLIANCE ON A PROPOSED NEW "BILL OF RIGHTS" FOR BRITAIN
The Libertarian Alliance, the radical free market and civil liberties
policy institute, today issues the following statement on the legitimacy
of the proposed new "Bill of Rights" for Britain.
[Note: The British Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights has
called for a new Bill of Rights, to supplement or replace the Human
Rights Act 1998. This new Bill would contain social and economic
"rights", including the "right" to health, housing, education and an
adequate standard of living, as well as a "healthy" environment. It
would also contain such "rights" as international human rights treaties
may in future decide.]
Libertarian Alliance Director, Dr Sean Gabb, says:
"The most fundamental right within the western liberal tradition is the
right of individuals to be left alone in the enjoyment of life, liberty
and justly-acquired property. The most fundamental obligation is to
leave others alone in their enjoyment of the same.
"The sole function of a bill of rights is to protect this fundamental
right from violation by the State, which in every time and place has
been the foremost threat to life, liberty and property. Therefore, bills
of rights have generally enumerated aspects of the right to be left
alone, together with promises of due process in all areas where state
and individual are brought together.
"Some bills of rights have been more technically comprehensive than
others. Some have been more effective than others. But, historically, it
has been fear of the State that has lain behind calls for any bill of
rights.
"The effect - and probably the intention - of this proposed bill of
rights is to weaken protection of genuine rights by the enumeration of
non-rights.
"We have a right to freedom of speech. We have a right to freedom of
association. We have a right to fair trials in which the State is at a
procedural disadvantage. We have no right whatever to education or
healthcare that go beyond what we have freely contracted to obtain. We
have no right not to be poor that goes beyond our right not to be
deprived of our justly-acquired property.
"It may be politically expedient, in some times and places, for the tax
payers to be forced to subsidise the education and healthcare and
general support of the poor. But the expectations thereby created cannot
be described as rights. These expectations can only be met by the
violation of the right of the tax payers to their property.
"And the right to a 'healthy' environment is an expectation that
legitimises wholesale violations of life, liberty and property.
"Nothing in the news reports we have seen suggests that this proposed
new bill of rights will contain prohibitions of racial, religious or
sexual "discrimination"
state of ruling class opinion, that these will not be there. They also
are not rights, and involve the systematic violation of genuine rights.
No one has a right not to be hated or despised. No one has a right to
force anyone to associate with him. No one has an obligation to remain
silent on matters of politics, religion, science or history, among much
else.
"Nor is anything said about the supposed need to balance rights against
responsibilities. Again, it is unlikely that this will be left out. The
European concept of "abus de droit" has been in practice a means of
limiting the exercise of rights in any way found inconvenient by the
State. It has never so far had any place in English law. The proper
place for setting out the details of our obligation to leave others
alone is the civil and criminal law.
"The Human Rights Act 1998 is imperfect in its protection of rights.
Even so, it is a document that recognises the rights of the western
liberal tradition. Until it can be replaced by a more perfectly liberal
document, it should be left in place. If any change is required, it
should only be to give the courts power to strike down any subsequent
law explicitly as well as implicitly reducing its protections.
END OF COPY
Note(s) to Editors
Dr Sean Gabb is the Director of the Libertarian Alliance. His latest
book, Cultural Revolution, Culture War: How Conservatives Lost England,
and How to Get It Back, may be downloaded for free from
http://tinyurl.
available from Hampden Press at http://www.hampdenp
He can be contacted for further comment on 07956 472 199 or by email at
sean@libertarian.
Extended Contact Details:
The Libertarian Alliance is Britain's most radical free market and civil
liberties policy institute. It has published over 800 articles,
pamphlets and books in support of freedom and against statism in all its
forms. These are freely available at http://www.libertar
Our postal address is
The Libertarian Alliance
Suite 35
2 Lansdowne Row
Mayfair
London W1J 6HL
Tel: 07956 472 199
Associated Organisations
The Libertarian International - http://www.libertar
organisation to the Libertarian Alliance. Its mission is to coordinate
various initiatives in the defence of individual liberty throughout the
world.
Sean Gabb's personal website - http://www.seangabb
about a million words of writings on themes interesting to libertarians
and conservatives.
Hampden Press - http://www.hampdenp
the Libertarian Alliance.
Liberalia - http://www.liberali
member Christian Michel, Liberalia publishes in-depth papers in French
and English on libertarianism and free enterprise. It is a prime source
of documentation on these issues for students and scholars.
This news release will also be placed on the Libertarian Alliance blog -
http://libertariana
--
Sean Gabb
Director, The Libertarian Alliance
sean@libertarian.
Tel: 07956 472 199
http://www.libertar
http://www.seangabb
http://www.hampdenp
http://libertariana
FREE download of my book - "Cultural Revolution, Culture War: How Conservatives
Lost England, and How to Get It Back" - http://tinyurl.
Wikipedia Entry: http://tinyurl.
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