Law, Rights, and Political Ideologies: A Comparative Analysis

The Concept of Law

Distinction between Law and Right

Law

It is the set of principles and norms governing human relations in society. It is a comprehensive code addressing all aspects of personal and social interactions.

Right

It is the faculty or ability of every human being to act permissibly or demand what aligns with their dignity. Human rights are a clear example.

Types of Law

Positive Law (Derecho positivo)

The system of rules established by a particular state, applicable at a specific time and place. This is known as the legislation of a country.

Natural Law (Derecho natural)

A set of universal and immutable principles and rules. Positive law should align with natural law, as the latter establishes what is just, not merely legal.

Principles of Law

Principle of Legality

Conforming to the law in relations between the state and citizens, and among citizens themselves. It falls under positive law and doesn't consider the potential injustice of laws.

Principle of Legitimacy

What is legitimate aligns with justice and morality. A legitimate state strives to ensure that what is legal is also fair.

Three Conceptions of Law and Justice

Legal Iusnaturalism

Defends the existence of universal and inalienable individual natural rights. The state's primary function is to protect these rights, as exemplified by the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen (1789) in France.

Legal Positivism

Maintains that a legal norm exists only when positively established, meaning explicitly included in a legal code, as argued by English thinker Jeremy Bentham.

Legal Realism

Considers the positivization process necessary for the effective realization of moral and political demands for freedom and justice. These real-world conditions legitimize positive law.

Liberalism and Marxism

The Liberal Model

Adam Smith posits that the state's primary role is ensuring economic growth for national prosperity. State intervention should be limited, as societal welfare and wealth depend on:

• Individual Egoism or Pursuit of Self-Interest: In commerce, consumers seek to minimize costs while producers maximize profits, leading to mutually beneficial agreements.
• Law of Supply and Demand as Market Regulator: Prices adjust based on supply and demand, regulating the market.
• Division and Mechanization of Production: Increased productivity through efficient labor division and mechanization reduces production costs, leading to lower prices or higher profits.

In essence, the free market self-regulates without state intervention to achieve maximum benefits for society.

The Marxist Model

Historical Materialism

This theory posits that societal transformation requires a prior transformation of the economic base (“modes of production”). Marx believed that each mode of production is a continuously evolving social system with three substructures, the most important being the economic infrastructure.

The economic infrastructure shapes the entirety of society, including its ways of thinking. The organization of production and exchange determines the social order. Within every production process, there are:

• Productive Forces
• Relations of Production

The challenge arises when the relations of production resist adapting to the rapid development of productive forces. This tension within the economic structure leads to a shift towards a new mode of production, and consequently, a new societal model.