4.2 Rights

We have said that formal rules (laws and regulations) give us rights. Now we are going to examine in more detail who have those rights. To whom exactly do laws and regulations give certain rights?

Let's consider some examples:

• • Who has the right to attend to our school? Only those who have formalized an inscription at the beginning of the school year.

  • Who has the right to drive a vehicle? Only those who have a valid driving license.

  • Who has the right to vote in an election? Only registered voters.

  • Who has the right to live in Spain? Only Spanish citizens or legal aliens.

Thus, it seems that laws give rights to some people but not to everyone. Besides, those who have the right have to acquire it, have to ask for it. And finally, these are rights that can be lost (of revoked):

• • Students may be expelled form school, therefore loosing their right to attend.

  • Drivers may loose their driving license if they commit an offense against the circulation code, therefore loosing their right to drive a car.

Most of our rights are this way: only some people acquire them and those rights can be revoked or lost in certain situations. We can summarize it saying that these rights are particular rights.

Particular rights

Universal rights

Compared to particular rights, universal rights have opposite characteristics:

• • Only some people have right to attend to our school, but everybody has the right to education.

  • A person acquire the right to vote in the next elections when he or she is added to the electoral census, but every citizen has the right to participate in elections without asking for it.

  • A driver's right to drive a car may be revoked, but none can take away from him or her the right to move anywhere you please.

There are many particular rights, but only a few universal rights, and they are listed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.