An examination of the nature, history and jurisprudence of socio-economic rights

Abstract

The concept of ‘right’ and the evolution of socio, economic and cultural rights (socio-economic rights) have had a chequered history; from the philosophical expositions of natural law and natural right, to the rights of man and now human rights, great philosophers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries have laboured to find a philosophical basis for the idea of ‘right’ and have developed many theories to explain the concept of right and the evolution of human society. These theories range from natural law, to natural right, to social contract and eventually to positive law theories. This paper will examine these theories and trace the nature and history of the idea of ‘right’ and its gravitation over the centuries to what is known today as human rights, and by extension, socio-economic rights. The paper adopts the doctrinal method of research by considering the opinion of authors, philosophers, conventions and treaties, and will argue that the modern concept of socioeconomic rights have become universally accepted as an integral and inseparable component of the more popular civil and political rights and should be equally enforceable through national legislative framework.