Legal rights

Many freedoms, such as freedom of choice, are linked with specific rights that can be enforced by law. These include the right of equal opportunity. This right is enforced in Britain through Race Relations Act and the Sex Discrimination Act. In the US the civil rights movement of the 1960s influenced the making of new laws to protect the rights of minority groups, especially African Americans. In 1972 an Equal Rights Amendment, which would have given women the same rights and opportunities as men failed to get the support of enough states to be passed. Later, however, several laws were passed making it illegal to discriminate against women.

People in Britain and the US have a much valued right to privacy. For instance, the police have to obtain permission to enter a person’s house or stop them in the street without good cause. The US Freedom of Information Act and the British Data Protection Act allow a person access to information held about them on a computer and the opportunity to correct it if it is wrong.

If a person breaks the law he or she still has rights that the law is expected to defend. In the US several amendments to the Constitution deal specifically with the rights of people suspected or accused of a crime. In Britain, a person detained by the police has a right to be released if he or she is not charged within 24 hours. As in the US, people also have the right to remain silent. The police are heavily criticised if these rights are infringed.

In the US an individual’s right to own weapons continues to cause disagreement. When this right was included in the Second Amendment, America had just finished fighting for independence. Since the US did not want to keep a permanent army its defence in the case of future attacks depended on ordinary people having weapons. Many people believe that since the US does now have a professional army individuals do not need guns, and that the interpretation of the amendment should take account of the modern situation. But others want to keep the right to have weapons and resist any changes to the law.

Oxford Guide to British and American Culture. 1999

2.2. Suggest the English equivalents.

защищать права/абараняць правы; прописывать в Конституции/прапісваць у Канстытуцыі; поправка/папраўка; свобода вероисповедания/свабода веравызнання; Верховный суд/Вярхоўны суд; свобода слова/свабода слова; предварительный запрет/папярэдняя забарона; свидетельствовать против самого себя/сведчыць супраць сябе; меньшинства/меншасці; нарушать закон/парушаць закон; право хранить молчание/права захоўваць маўчанне; предъявить обвинения/прывесці абвінавачванні; освобождать (из-под стражи)/вызваліць (з-пад стражы).

2.3. True or false.

1. British and American people will often say “it’s a free country” when a person does something that others do not approve of.

2. Britain has a legal document describing the rights of individuals.

3. In Britain and the US the most basic rights include the freedom of choice, freedom of artistic expression, freedom to live without interference form the government.

4. The courts never stop newspapers from printing something that is known not to be true or may jeopardise national security.

5. People who take the Fifth use their constitutional right not to answer personal questions.

6. Mutilation of the flag is considered to be symbolic speech in the US.

7. In the US an individual’s right “to bear arms” is protected by the Constitution.