The United Kingdom and Human Rights - College of Social ...

A Digression on Moral Relativism 13
being motivated. Whatever happens to Marxism, it has
at least made us aware that aspects of the ideology of
those exercising power tend to be reflected in most
laws—subject, of course, to compromises with the
ideologies of others who have an input into the
legislative process. The same applies to administrative
and judicial decisions.
I contend that in the modern world, that is since the
17th century, those who live in modern societies have
basically accepted an ideology of which the major
premises are that the human personality should be
satisfied and realised; that this occurs in the wider
society of the nation-state; that the end of collective
constitutional and democratic governmental institutions
is promotion of a good quality of life (in Benthamite
thought the term is "utility") for citizens of that state;
and that all humans in such societies have some rights
against the state and against one another.
The United Kingdom's Contributions to Human Rights
Thinking
A common ideology brings me full circle to the United
Kingdom's traditions and how these developed. Crucial
contributions were made by the lawyers, Canon,
Common, Civil and Parliamentary. Their concepts of
rights, contract and property were transmogrified into
ideologies, including the view that governments exist to
recognise and protect the rights of man. We are all
aware of the revolutionary impact of the political
language and ideology of natural or human rights, over
the period from the 17th century up to recent events in
Eastern Europe, in China and in Africa. Although he did
not use jargon, Blackstone, well before the French