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SUMMARY
Theory and Politics of Human Rights
Although human rights play essential role in the contemporary Western society
(but progressively also in other parts of the world), the very concept is far from free
of disputes and indeterminacy. It is not just a matter of terminology (human rights,
fundamental rights, fundamental freedoms, etc.) used in different constitutional and
international documents. The human rights discourse in internal and international
law reflects different national traditions but also different premises of the philosophy
and theory of law. It is usual to stress the natural law origin of human rights, which
seems to be correct in the European tradition. However, human rights became a part
of positive international law. The earlier prevailing concept of three generations of
human rights has been replaced now by universality of human rights. According to this
concept, embodied in the 1993 Vienna Declaration, all human rights are universal,
indivisible and interdependent and interrelated.
Klíčová slova:
filozofie a teorie lidských práv, univerzalita a nedělitelnost, politika
lidských práv
Comments on Theoretical Aspects of Human Rights
Constitutional regulation of fundamental rights is characterized by certain
vagueness of the wording of a constitutional text. Therefore I argue that various
theories of human rights play a crucial role in the process of their interpretation.
In this article I firstly present theoretical foundations of legal relations governed by
fundamental rights. Here I focus namely on W. N. Hohfeld’s analysis of legal concepts
and dual character of fundamental rights (i.e. rights as individuals’ claims and rights
as constituents of law). I also discuss the role of duties flowing from fundamental
rights, which I consider as indivisible part of human rights discourse. In the second
part I refer to E.-W. Böckenförde’s human rights theories and try to describe the role
of human rights theories in the interpretation of fundamental rights.
Klíčová slova:
teorie lidských práv, ústavněprávní argumentace
New Mechanisms of Fundamental Rights Protection in the European Union
as Desirable Aim but Undesirable Means: Several Notes to the Heidelberg
proposal
The level of protection of fundamental rights is generally considered as an important
indicator of a mature society. Nevertheless critical voices may occur also in the situation
of widening of this protection. This criticism may relate to the mode of protection
of acknowledged fundamental right, especially when this mode of protection is
considered not as a means to protect substantive fundamental rights but as a means