Natural rights

Topic: Political Theory: Freedom and Rights · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 5 "Rights"

Meaning

Natural rights are rights that every person is born with, because they come from natural law (rules believed to be laid down by nature or God, not by any ruler); so no king or government grants them, and none can take them away. The idea belongs to the 17th and 18th centuries. It matters because it put rights above the state. This gave people a moral reason to resist arbitrary power (power used at the ruler's whim, without law), and it later grew into the modern idea of human rights.

Explanation

Where natural rights come from

• Natural law is the source.
• It is a set of rules from nature or God.

• It ranks higher than any law a state makes.

• Natural rights flow from natural law.

• People are born with them.
• Kings and governments do not grant them.

• So rulers cannot take them away.

• This is why natural rights are called inalienable. An inalienable right cannot be taken away, and a person cannot give it up even by choice.

Locke's three natural rights

• John Locke, Two Treatises of Government (1689), named three natural rights: life, liberty and property.
• Rights come before government.
• These rights exist even before any government is set up.

• People form a government so that a fair power can settle their disputes [5][6].

• Obedience depends on protection.

• People must obey a government only while it protects these rights.
• A ruler who violates them can rightly be overthrown [5][6].

Natural rights used against arbitrary power

• US Declaration of Independence (1776)
• It speaks of "unalienable rights", including "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness".
• The Second Continental Congress adopted it on 4 July 1776. It accused the British king of seeking "absolute Tyranny over these States" [7][8].

• Thomas Jefferson, its author, drew on Locke. He changed Locke's "life, liberty and property" to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" [7][8].

• French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789)

• It was issued during the French Revolution.
• It was aimed at royal absolutism (rule by a king with unlimited power).

Limits, and the move to "human rights"

• A right must be a justified claim. Society has to see it as reasonable and good for everyone. A personal want, such as staying out late, is not enough.
• Nothing that harms oneself or others can be a right. For example, smoking in public harms bystanders, so it cannot be claimed as a right.
• Weak point: belief in natural law has faded. Many people today doubt that rules fixed by nature or God exist.
• The result: "human rights" has replaced "natural rights".
• Human rights belong to a person simply because they are human, not because of birth, wealth or citizenship.
• Their source is human reasoning and agreement, not nature or God.

• They rest on three beliefs. Each person is unique. Each person is equally valuable. No one is born to serve others.

• The language lives on in the UDHR (Universal Declaration of Human Rights).

• The UN General Assembly adopted it in Paris on 10 December 1948, by Resolution 217 A [2].
• The first line of its Preamble speaks of "inherent dignity" and "equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family" [2].
• Article 1: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights." [2]
• Article 3: "Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person." This echoes Locke, with "security" in place of "property" [2].

In the Constitution and practice

• Rights written into law. India does not rest its rights on nature or God. Part III (Fundamental Rights) writes them into the Constitution, and the courts enforce them. But the courts read them in the light of inherent dignity, which is the core of the natural-rights tradition.
• Locke's three rights in the Indian Constitution.
• Life and liberty → Article 21: no person shall be deprived of life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law.

• Property → no longer a Fundamental Right. The 44th Amendment (1978) removed it from Part III. It is now a legal right under Article 300A.

• Preamble: the goal of Fraternity means "assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation".

• Francis Coralie Mullin v. Administrator, UT of Delhi (1981): the right to life under Art. 21 means the right to live with human dignity, not mere animal existence.
• Common Cause v. Union of India (2018), a five-judge Constitution Bench (a bench of at least five judges that hears major constitutional questions):
• The "right to live with dignity" under Art. 21 includes the "right to die with dignity" [3][4].
• Passive euthanasia (withdrawing or withholding treatment so that natural death follows) is legal. Its basis is liberty, dignity and privacy [4].
• Advance Medical Directives (living wills: written instructions, made in advance, refusing future treatment if you lose the capacity to decide) are valid [4].

• The Court separated extinguishing life (active euthanasia, not allowed) from letting the natural process of death conclude (passive euthanasia, allowed) [4].

• Ban on being "born to serve": UDHR Article 4 bans slavery and servitude in all forms [2]. India's Article 23 likewise bans traffic in human beings and forced labour.

Don't confuse with

• Human rights: both are universal, but natural rights come from nature or God. Human rights come from human reasoning and agreement about what a minimally good life needs.
• Fundamental Rights (Part III): they are granted and listed by the Constitution, can be enforced in court, and may face reasonable limits. Natural rights claim to exist before and above any state or written law.
• Legal rights: a law creates them, and a law can change or remove them. India's right to property is now a legal right under Art. 300A. Natural rights, in theory, no law can take away.
• Natural law: it is the source (a higher set of rules from nature or God). Natural rights are the entitlements that flow from it.

Prelims Hooks

• Locke (Two Treatises, 1689): three natural rights are life, liberty and property. The US Declaration (4 July 1776) replaced property with "the pursuit of happiness" [7][8].
• Jefferson wrote the US Declaration. It was adopted by the Second Continental Congress. The French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen came in 1789.
• UDHR: adopted 10 December 1948, in Paris, by UNGA Resolution 217 A. The first line of its Preamble uses "inherent dignity" and "equal and inalienable rights" [2].
• UDHR Art. 3 = life, liberty and security of person (not property) [2].
• Trap: "Human rights" replaced "natural rights" because belief in natural law faded, not because the rights were abolished.
• Case–principle pairs: Francis Coralie Mullin (1981) → Art. 21 means life with human dignity. Common Cause (2018) → right to die with dignity, passive euthanasia allowed, living wills valid [4].

Mains Points

• The source of a right decides how strong it is.
• Natural-rights theory puts rights above the state, so a ruler who breaks them loses the right to rule. This justified the revolutions of 1776 and 1789.
• Human-rights theory grounds rights in shared human agreement. This makes them universal, but critics argue they then depend on a consensus that can shift.

• India's Part III mixes both. Rights are written into law, yet Art. 21 is read in the light of inherent dignity (Francis Coralie Mullin, 1981; Common Cause, 2018).

• Property: from natural right to legal right.

• Locke placed property beside life and liberty.
• India moved it out of Part III (44th Amendment, 1978) to Art. 300A, so land could be redistributed for social justice.

• This shows how a welfare state can rank collective goals above a classical natural right.

• Rights as limits on power versus public welfare.

• The natural-rights idea treats certain rights as limits that no ruler and no majority can override.
• In practice, states must balance them against public-interest goals such as public health. Rights must not harm others, for example smoking in public.

Related concepts

• Rights
• Natural law
• Inalienable rights
• Human rights
• Kant's idea of human dignity
• Moral conception of rights

Read more

• What rights are and where they come from