Individual Rights vs Public Order
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In this report, the notion of individual rights and public order are examined and an argument advanced in favor of the primacy of public order over the rights of the individual. Generally, as Levinson (1988) has commented, in democratic republics such as the United States, the rights of individuals are grounded in a formal Constitution which also establishes the duties of both citizens and government. Even in the most ideal democratic republic, it is likely to be inevitable that there will be conflicts between individual demands for rights and the responsibility of the government to fulfill the social contract by maintaining public order (Lundberg, 1980). It is argued herein that whereas utilitarianism as a philosophical system may advance the primacy of individual rights, any rational or realistic understanding of the social contract recognizes that the first duty of any society is to ensure that its members will be able to exercise their rights (Schick & Vaughn, 1999). This necessitates the maintenance of public order and may at times require the government to act in a manner that is detrimental to the rights of ordinary citizens. Striking a balance between individual rights and the maintenance of public order is one of the most significant challenges to any democratic government and its polity (Hall, Wiecek, & Finkelman, 1996). Individual Rights Rights are understood as adhering to the simple condition o
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all, et al, 1999).
Those who support the primacy of individual rights over the maintenance of order argue that the protection of society comes mainly through a recognition of the rights of the individual. The common law and the natural law are used as the basis for this position. However, even the government and the Supreme Court have recognized that there are very real limitations to individual rights.
Specifically, as Lundberg (1980) and Levy (1999) have pointed out, no individual is permitted under law to advance his rights by actions that deny, violate, or trample upon the rights of others. An individual does possess the right to life but does not possess the right to steal from another in order to ensure physical survival. Society reserves to itself the right to maintain order, and as will be discussed below, it is this particular duty that offsets and limits the applicability and extension of individual rights (Levy, 1999).
Public Order
Public order consists for the most part of that state of social harmony in which individuals are freely able to exercise their rights while simultaneously granting status to the equal rights of others. Democracy is often celebrated as a metho
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Approximate Word count = 1840
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
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