Special rights is a term originally used by libertarians to refer to laws granting rights to one or more groups which are not extended to other groups. Ideas of special rights are controversial, as they clash with the principle of equality before the law.
Potential examples of special rights include affirmative action policies or hate crime legislation with regard to ethnic, religious or sexual minorities, or the state recognition of marriage as a group with different taxation than those who are non-married.
Concepts of special rights are closely aligned with notions of group rights and identity politics.
Read more about Special Rights: Other Uses, Legal Argument, Libertarianism On Rights and Special Rights, Definition of Minorities
Famous quotes containing the words special and/or rights:
“The very best reason parents are so special . . . is because we are the holders of a priceless gift, a gift we received from countless generations we never knew, a gift that only we now possess and only we can give to our children. That unique gift, of course, is the gift of ourselves. Whatever we can do to give that gift, and to help others receive it, is worth the challenge of all our human endeavor.”
—Fred Rogers (20th century)
“Why hast thou lost the fresh blood in thy cheeks,
And given my treasures and my rights of thee
To thick-eyed musing and cursed melancholy?”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)