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:
“I have the handicap of being born with a special language to which I alone have the key.”
—Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880)
“Whilst the rights of all as persons are equal, in virtue of their access to reason, their rights in property are very unequal. One man owns his clothes, and another owns a country.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)