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‘Child abuse’ examines this extremely emotive and hotly debated area of family law. The law is able to remove a child from a situation where abuse is suspected, but this is a power that must be exercised with great caution. What constitutes child abuse? There must be some consideration of cultural differences in the definition. The law has to consider a number of issues: what should be done when there is a suspicion of abuse but no proof? How bad must the abuse be before it justifies removal of a child? Judges have to deal with these questions every day. ...Less

Increasingly, people claim that animals have moral status, moral rights, or both. What does this mean? To say that a cat has moral status is to say that the cat has moral importance in her own right and not just in relation to people. ‘The moral status of animals’ considers whether animals, all animals, should have moral status and defines different levels of understanding moral rights: the moral status, the equal-consideration, and the utility-trumping senses of rights. Are all animals equal, including centipedes, slugs, and amoebas? Some animal advocates claim that they are. Not all creatures are sentient, which means having a capacity to feel. ...Less

‘Rights and justice’ asks: What is a right? Is there a distinction between my rights as recognized by the law, and rights that I believe I ought to have? It examines the two major theories of rights: ‘will’ theory which holds that when I have a right to do something, what is effectively protected is my choice whether or not to do it; and ‘interest’ theory which claims that the purpose of rights is to protect, not my individual choice, but certain of my interests. Rights, legal and moral, pervade the law and legal system, and are thus a central concern of jurisprudence. John Rawls' concept of justice as fairness is also considered. ...Less

The routine functions of government and private institutions require a continual supply of data about us in order to administer effectively the many services that are an integral part of modern life. The provision of health services, social security, credit, insurance, and the prevention and detection of crime assume the availability of a considerable quantity of personal data and, hence, a willingness by individuals to supply it. The ubiquity of computers and computer networks facilitates almost instant storage, retrieval, and transfer of data, a far cry from the world of manual filing systems. At the core of all data protection legislation is the proposition that data relating to an identifiable individual should not be collected in the absence of a genuine purpose or the consent of the individual concerned. Adherence to, and enforcement of, this idea (and the associated rights of access and correction) has been mixed in the nearly 100 jurisdictions that have enacted data protection legislation. This chapter assesses the extent to which these statutes have succeeded in protecting personal data. ...Less

‘Freedom and the limits of government’ asks whether there is a realm of human freedom that must be kept beyond the reach of politics, and in which government must categorically not intervene. It offers an explanation of what freedom is and explores its limits. In a democracy, questions about the use of resources to promote freedom, about freedom and social responsibility, and about the rights that all citizens should enjoy, will be openly debated, and in answering them people will appeal to many different principles. As societies change, as new needs and new problems arise, so too will the shape of freedom itself. ...Less

‘Discrimination and equality’ considers the prohibited grounds of discrimination (based on age, sexuality, religion, nationality, gender, and disability); what new grounds may be emerging; and when distinctions can be drawn between people reasonably and therefore legitimately. Despite the existence of obvious inequalities at birth, justice and fairness demand a system to give everyone equal access to opportunities and, in some versions, redistribute resources to ensure that the least well-off are prioritized in an attempt to achieve equality of outcomes. These philosophical approaches provide much of the ballast for the human rights rules on discrimination—and the moral case for developing these rules to achieve greater social justice globally. ...Less

How are human rights put into practice? What does it mean when governments announce that their foreign policy is concerned with promoting and protecting human rights? Where is the enforcement of these rights? ‘Human rights foreign policy and the role of the United Nations’ considers human rights in terms of foreign policy and international law and examines the UN’s Universal Periodic Review process and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. It is only recently that governments have actively involved themselves in how another state treats its nationals, but enthusiasm for human rights in foreign policy ebbs and flows. ...Less

‘Ethics’ explores the moral aspects of Buddhism. Buddhists live in accordance with the Dharma: a universal law of both physical and moral order. Dharma is manifest in the law of karma. Buddhist ethical requirements are expressed as duties, most notably the Five Precepts. The cornerstone of Buddhist ethics is the inviolability of life. However, there is more to Buddhism than following rules. Motivations are important also, and the Mahāyāna believe that liberties can be taken in exceptional circumstances. There is no Buddhist conception of ‘rights’, as they are seen by Buddhists as implicit. Buddhists are strongly opposed to violence, although many leaders have failed in their bid for pacifism. ...Less

‘Constitutional revolutions: America, France, Europe (1830 and 1848), and Meiji Japan’ describes the growing skepticism and secularism of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that led to a modern twist in revolutions—revolutionaries that attacked the rights of kings and the rights of churches and who drew up constitutions, based on reason and the concept of natural rights, to liberate men from these authorities. The American Revolution, the French Revolution, the European revolutions of 1830 and 1848, and the Meiji Constitution in Japan are explained. Despite their uneven successes, the constitutional revolutions created a new template for revolution—the model that has become the dominant ideal of revolution today. ...Less

Ronald Dworkin was legal positivism's most tenacious critic. ‘Dworkin: the moral integrity of law’ shows that Dworkin's theory includes not only a stimulating account of law and the legal system, but also an analysis of the place of morals in law, the importance of individual rights, and the nature of the judicial function. Dworkin argues that, when faced with a difficult case to which no statute or previous decision applies, a judge does not make law, but rather interprets what is already part of the legal materials. For Dworkin, law consists not merely of rules, but includes non-rule standards — principles and policies. Deciding what the law is depends inescapably on moral-political considerations. ...Less

Asylum-seekers are those who have applied for international protection. Asylum status is still governed by the 1951 United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. ‘Refugees and asylum-seekers’ explains the changing geography of refugees and the causes and consequences of refugee movements. Refugees tend not to travel very far, putting strain on the poorest countries, and mostly settle in camps, which suffer from aid misappropriation. There are three durable solutions for refugees: voluntary repatriation, local integration, and third-country settlement. Each can be problematic and none is working well at the moment, as demonstrated by rising numbers of refugees, the increasing proportion of protracted refugee situations, and fewer returns. ...Less

‘The Politics of Trust’ considers the nature of political authority. Locke initially feared any challenge to the authority of a monarch, because of the danger of disorder, but eventually decided that every adult man could judge how best to preserve civil society. It was the ruler's duty to protect the natural rights of citizens, making the monarch the servant and not the owner of those he ruled. At the heart of the relation of government to men lay trust, which was dependent on God; if this trust was breached, then men had the right to rebel against their sovereign. ...Less

As our technologies of control increase, so do the new questions about how to use them. ‘Some ethical ideas’ examines such issues as abortion, rights, and euthanasia, and explores how an ethic will crystallize our attitudes to the most important events, such as birth and death. It will determine our attitude to life and what makes it worth living, encapsulating notions of human nature and human happiness and telling us what it is for a human life to go well. It will describe desire and freedom, and our rights to the opportunities and powers that we need in life. ...Less

‘Second-wave feminism: the late 20th century’ covers women's activism after the Second World War in several countries. The importance of the writings of women theorists, campaigners and authors such as Simone de Beauvoir, Betty Friedan, bell hooks, Gloria Steinem, Kate Millet, Germaine Greer, Shulamith Firestone, Susie Orbach, Susan Brownmiller, and Naomi Wolf, amongst others, are highlighted. The emerging lesbian rights movement is surveyed and the particular difficulties and issues they face discussed. How can feminism meet the challenges posed by an overtly body-conscious 21st-century society? How can feminism combat continuing male violence, and the pervasiveness of pornography? ...Less

Analysing people’s beliefs about language is important for education and for our common understanding about how language works. ‘Multilingualism, myth, and controversies’ considers six myths: the Curse of Babel; the world would be peaceful if we all spoke one language; multilingualism is not natural; English is the global standard, so why bother with anything else?; languages cost too much; and multilingualism means multiculturalism. How and why is multiculturalism important to multilingualism? Firstly, because language is the medium of communication and the education of new citizens matters. Secondly, multilingualism raises awareness of the political and civil human rights of all members of society. Thirdly, because harnessing the various languages of the community establishes a richer social consensus. ...Less

Armed conflict poses an imminent threat to the nation’s existence, but so does suspension of the nation’s fundamental laws. The framers wrestled with how to grant government the power to defend the nation without providing it the means to threaten liberty. The question it raises—does war suspend the Constitution or does the Constitution control the conduct of the war—has rarely been absent from American history. ‘Security’ describes the impact of the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, as well as the recent ‘war on terror’ on the nation’s laws, the executive presidential power, and the roles of the Supreme Court and Congress. ...Less

‘In and out of prison’ considers the state of prisons today; the typical prison population; the crimes that result in imprisonment; the costs of imprisonment; the process of release and the pros and cons of parole; life after release; and re-offenders. We expect our prisons to punish and to rehabilitate, but often there are numerous ‘pains of imprisonment’: incarceration, assault, homicide, accidental death by drug overdose, self-harm, and then the long-term financial impact and adverse life events on release from custody. Rehabilitation in the prison system is also difficult and costly to provide. Alternatives such as managing offenders in home confinement through intensive forms of electronic monitoring are also considered. ...Less

Within the traditional adversarial model of justice, the victim often serves as the principal prosecution witness and, having served this function, plays no further part in criminal proceedings. In inquisitorial systems, the victim plays a greater role with rights for input into proceedings. ‘Hearing the crime victim?’ explains how much progress has been made in improving the criminal justice response to victims. Victims can now submit victim impact statements, which can be used to guide or inform decision-making throughout the CJS. Additional attention is paid to crime victims and they are offered more services, but are these reforms sufficient? Restorative justice initiatives are also described. ...Less

‘Before birth’ first considers the rights and obligations to reproduce. The law defends the right to reproduce and there are few limitations on that right. The right not to be a parent outweighs the right to be one. The conflicting and complex regulations that affect the rights and non-rights of the embryo/fetus/unborn child are then discussed, with the results of cases highlighting the variable laws on abortion. The cloning debate is then examined. Human reproductive cloning is unlawful almost everywhere, but the regulation of therapeutic cloning is more politically controversial. Finally, the issue of saviour siblings is considered. ...Less