Just What Are Civil Rights?

The article below taken from Cornell Law School website is an overview of legislation passed more than one-hundred and fifty years ago. This legislation has been amended over the years most recently due to theCivil Rights Movement and Dr. King


A civil right is an enforceable right or privilege, which if interfered with by another gives rise to an action for injury. Examples of civil rights are freedom of speech, press, assembly, the right to vote, freedom from involuntary servitude, and the right to equality in public places. Discrimination occurs when the civil rights of an individual are denied or interfered with because of their membership in a particular group or class. Statutes have been enacted to prevent discrimination based on a persons race, sex, religion, age, previous condition of servitude, physical limitation, national origin and in some instances sexual preference.

The most important expansion of civil rights in the United States was the enactment of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments. The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery throughout the United States. See U.S. Const. amend. XIII.

(http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.amendmentxiii.html) In response to the 13th Amendment, various states enacted "black codes" which were intended to limit the civil rights of the newly free slaves. In 1868 the 14th Amendment was passed to counter the "black codes" and ensure that no state "shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of the citizens of the United States . . . [or] deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, [or] deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." See U.S. Const. amend. XIV.

(http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.amendmentxiv.html) Congress was also given the power by section five of the Fourteenth Amendment to pass any laws needed for its enforcement. During the "reconstruction era" that followed Congress enacted numerous civil rights statutes. Many of these statutes are still in force today and protect individuals from discrimination and from the deprivation of their civil rights. [[USC:42:1981Section 1981 of Title 42 (Equal Rights Under the Law)] protects individuals from discrimination based on race in making and enforcing contracts, participating in lawsuits, and giving evidence. See 42 U.S.C. § 1981.Other statutes, derived from acts of the reconstruction era, that protect against discrimination include: Civil Action For Deprivation of Rights (See 42 U.S.C. § 1983) Conspiracies to Interfere With Civil Rights (See [[USC:42:198542 U.S.C. § 1985]); Conspiracy Against Rights of Citizens (See 18 U.S.C. § 241); Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law, (See 18 U.S.C. § 242); The Jurisdictional Statue for Civil Rights Cases (See 28 U.S.C. § 1443); Peonage Abolished (See 42 U.S.C. § 1994).

This Article Continues Here.



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