What are civil liberties and what are civil rights?

Answer 1

In the UK, civil liberties are the limitation of the power of the government that protect a citizen. They are 'negative' rights so to speak in that they determine what the government cannot do as opposed to what the citizen can do. For example, freedom of speech, freedom of association and the right to fair trial. None of these aspects can be limited or interfered with by the government.

Civil rights are a set of moral rules that determine the rights of a citizen. Many of these moral stand points have been incorporated into international legal systems but are often not entrenched. For example the UK is a member of the European Convention of Human Rights. Human rights are Universal, in that they apply to all human beings world wide. They are fundamental meaning that entitlement to them cannot be removed and they are absolute in that they must be upheld under all circumstances. Despite this, civil rights are often infringed Also, in the UK civil liberties are precariously protected. UK parliament has sovereignty, meaning they can pass any law they like. They therefore have the ability to remove civil liberties from their citizens. In theory, the liberty of UK citizens is protected by Judicial review and the ECHR, however, the degree of this protection is questionable.