Equality before the law

Statue of Equality, Paris. Allegory of equality

Equality before the law, also known as equality under the law, equality in the eyes of the law, or legal equality, is the principle under which all people are subject to the same laws of justice (due process).^[1] Law also raises important and complex issues concerning equality, fairness, and justice. There is an old saying that 'All are equal before the law.'. The author Anatole France said in 1894, "In its majestic equality, the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets, and steal loaves of bread."^[2] The belief in equality before the law is called legal egalitarianism.

Article 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that "All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law."^[1]

According to the United Nations, this principle is particularly important to the minorities and to the poor.^[1]

Thus, the law and the judges must treat everyone equally before the law regardless of their race, gender, gender identity, national origin, color, ethnicity, religion, disability, or other characteristics, without privilege, discrimination, or bias.

Equality before the law is one of the basic principles of liberalism.^[3]^[4]

History 1
Classical liberalism 2
Feminism 3
Nebraska 4
Parricide law 5
See also 6
References 7
Further reading 8

History

In his famous funeral oration of 431 BC, the Athenian leader Pericles discussed this concept. This may be the first known instance.

"If we look to the laws, they afford equal justice to all in their private differences; if no social standing, advancement in public life falls to reputation for capacity, class considerations not being allowed to interfere with merit; nor again does poverty bar the way"^[5]

Classical liberalism

Classical liberalism calls for equality before the law, not for equality of outcome.^[3] Classical liberalism opposes pursuing group rights at the expense of individual rights.^[4]

Feminism

Feminists call for equality before the law regardless of gender.^[6]

Still in 1988 the later supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote: "Generalizations about the way women or men are ... cannot guide me reliably in making decisions about particular individuals".^[7] In an ACLU's s Women's Rights Project in the 1970s Ginsburg challenged the laws that gave health service benefits to wives of servicemen but not to husbands of servicewomen and prohibited women from certain businesses including running a bar alone.^[6]

However, some radical feminists have opposed equality before the law, because they think that it maintains the weak position of the weak.^[8]

Nebraska

The phrase "Equality before the law" is the motto of the State of Nebraska and appears on its state seal.

Parricide law

Article 200 of the Criminal Code of Japan, the penalty regarding parricide, was declared unconstitutional for violating the equality under the law by the Supreme Court of Japan in 1973, as a result of the trial of the Tochigi patricide case.^[9]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c 7., description of the UN declaration article 7, the United Nations
^ (France, The Red Lily, Chapter VII).
^ ^a ^b Chandran Kukathas, "Ethical Pluralism from a Classical Liberal Perspective," in The Many and the One: Religious and Secular Perspectives on Ethical Pluralism in the Modern World, ed. Richard Madsen and Tracy B. Strong, Ethikon Series in Comparative Ethics (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2003), 61 (ISBN 0-691-09993-6).
^ ^a ^b Mark Evans, ed., Edinburgh Companion to Contemporary Liberalism: Evidence and Experience (London: Routledge, 2001), 55 (ISBN 1-57958-339-3).
^ Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War, Written 431 B.C.E, Translated by Richard Crawley (1874), retrieved via Project Gutenberg.
^ ^a ^b Feminist Jurisprudence: Equal Rights or Neo-Paternalism?, Michael Weiss and Cathy Young, Policy Analysis No. 256, Cato Institute, June 19, 1996, pages 1-2
^ Jeff Rosen, "The Book of Ruth," New Republic, August 2, 1993, p. 19.
^ Martha Chamallas, "Feminist Constructions of Objectivity: Multiple Perspectives in Sexual and Racial Harassment Litigation," Texas Journal of Women and the Law 1 (1992): 95, 131, 125.
^ Dean, Meryll (2002). Japanese legal system. Routledge via Google Books. p. 535

Articles 1 and 2: Right to freedom from discrimination
Article 3: Right to life, liberty and security of person
Article 4: Freedom from slavery
Article 5: Freedom from torture or cruel and unusual punishment
Article 6: Right to personhood
Article 7: Equality before the law
Article 8: Right to effective remedy from the law
Article 9: Freedom from arbitrary arrest, detention or exile
Article 10: Right to a fair trial
Article 11.1: Presumption of innocence
Article 11.2: Prohibition of retrospective law
Article 12: Right to privacy
Article 13.1: Freedom of movement
Article 13.2: Right of return
Article 14: Right of asylum
Article 15: Right to a nationality
Article 16: Right to marriage and family life
Article 17: Right to property
Article 18: Freedom of thought, conscience and religion
Article 19: Freedom of opinion and expression and information
Article 20.1: Freedom of assembly
Article 20.2: Freedom of association
Article 21.1: Right to participation in government
Article 21.2: Right of equal access to public office
Article 21.3: Right to universal suffrage

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Article 22: Right to social security
Article 23.1: Right to work
Article 23.2: Right to equal pay for equal work
Article 23.3: Right to just remuneration
Article 23.4: Right to join a trade union
Article 24: Right to rest and leisure
Article 25.1: Right to an adequate standard of living
Article 25.2: Right to special care and assistance for mothers and children
Article 26.1: Right to education
Article 26.2: Human rights education
Article 26.3: Right to choice of education
Article 27: Right to science and culture

Context, limitations and duties

Article 28: Social order Article 29.1: Social responsibility Article 29.2: Limitations of human rights Article 29.3: The supremacy of the purposes and principles of the United Nations

Article 30:	Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

Substantive human rights

Note: What is considered a human right is controversial and not all the topics listed are universally accepted as human rights.

Civil and political	Equality before the law Freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention Freedom of assembly Freedom of association Freedom from cruel and unusual punishment Freedom from discrimination Freedom from exile Freedom of information Freedom of movement Freedom of religion Freedom from slavery Freedom of speech Freedom of thought Freedom from torture Liberty LGBT rights Nationality Personhood Presumption of innocence Right of asylum Right to die Right to a fair trial Right to family life Right to keep and bear arms Right to life Right to petition Right to privacy Right to protest Right to refuse medical treatment Right of self-defense Security of person Universal suffrage

Economic, social and cultural	Digital rights Equal pay for equal work Fair remuneration Labor rights Right to an adequate standard of living Right to clothing Right to development Right to education Right to food Right to health Right to housing Right to Internet access Right to property Right to public participation Right of reply Right of return Right to science and culture Right to social security Right to water Right to work Trade union membership

Sexual and reproductive	Abortion Family planning Freedom from involuntary female genital mutilation LGBT rights Reproductive health Right to sexuality

Violations	Corporal punishment

War and conflict	Civilian Combatant Freedom from genocide Prisoner of war War rape

Suffrage

Basic topics	Women's suffrage Universal suffrage Voting age Youth suffrage Right of foreigners to vote Demeny voting Suffragette Compulsory voting Disfranchisement

By country	Australia 1902 Commonwealth Franchise Act aboriginal women Japan Kuwait New Zealand Switzerland United Kingdom 1928 Equal Franchise Act United States women timeline foreigners District of Columbia Puerto Rico 15th Amendment 19th Amendment 26th Amendment 1965 Voting Rights Act

See also	Seneca Falls Convention Declaration of Sentiments 1907 Mud March Silent Sentinels Suffrage Hikes 1913 Women's Suffrage Parade Selma to Montgomery marches List of suffragists and suffragettes Timeline of women's suffrage Timeline of women's suffrage in majority-Muslim countries Women's suffrage organizations Publications Age of candidacy Youth vote Women's rights activists 1920 U.S. presidential election Iron Jawed Angels Suffragette (film)

Equality before the law