Human Rights: Magna Carta 1215 By King John Of England

Introduction In the English legal system, the definition of ‘human rights’ are ‘the basic rights and freedoms to which every human being are considered entitled’ (Law and Martin (ed.) 2013, p. 269). ‘Human rights’ are where all individuals are entitled to the rights and freedoms irrespective of their citizenship and nationality. ‘Human rights’ are essentially important in order to maintain a civilised and fair society (Ministry of Justice 2006). The protection of the ‘human rights’ of citizens and others within their jurisdiction is a fundamental obligation of the government (Barnett 2011, p. 394). ‘Human rights’ are not privileges to be earned or gifts that can be given or taken away by the governments at will as they are part of what is

Historically, some of the basic human rights have been protected in English common law from the time when the signing of the Magna Carta 1215 by King John of England. The Magna Carta 1215 specifies many rights and freedoms which are currently referred to as the fundamental principles of good government or ‘human rights’ such as equality before the law as well as the principles of due process (Genn 2014, pp. 16-17). The Magna Carta 1215 guaranteed the right to a fair trial and trial by jury (Barnett and Diamantides 2012, p. 29). Regardless of the provisions of Magna Carta 1215 and other human rights protected under English common law, a wide range of basic human rights are currently positively protected by the Human Rights Act 1998 since the passing of the Act (Genn 2014, p. 17). The European Convention on Human Rights 1950 is an international treaty that provided for persons to bring trials in the European Court of Human Rights if they believe that a government is in breach of its duties under the European Convention on Human Rights 1950 (Genn 2014, p.

The Convention rights are defined in Section 1(1) of the Human Rights Act 1998 and are specified in Schedule 1 of the Human Rights Act 1998 for the Convention rights that are enforceable in the English law (Barnett and Diamantides 2012, p. 159). However, not all of the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights 1950 have been included in the Human Rights Act 1998. For example, Article 1 (the obligation of contracting states to protect Convention rights) and Article 13 (the right to an effective remedy) of the European Convention on Human Rights 1950 have been