Historical Development of the Second Generation
Chapter Thirty-Three
Syllabus topic 2, "Classification and Historical Development of Human Rights"
Pages 170 to 174 of 522
In one line
Public relief, poor law, factory legislation and the eight-hour day predate most modern civil liberties statutes, so the second generation is not a later development but a parallel one that reached international law later.
The dates that falsify the chronology
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1601 | The English Poor Law Act, a statutory duty on parishes to relieve the poor |
| 1793 | The French Constitution declares public relief a sacred debt and requires education for all citizens |
| 1802 onwards | English factory legislation limits the hours of apprentices and then of children |
| 1833 | Slavery abolished throughout the British Empire, with effect from 1834 |
| 1848 | The revolutions of that year press the "right to work" in France |
| 1871 onwards | Social insurance schemes in Germany: sickness, accident and old age |
| 1917 and 1919 | The Mexican Constitution and the Weimar Constitution entrench social rights |
| 1919 | The International Labour Organization is founded |
| 1948 | The Universal Declaration contains both categories in one instrument |
Set that table against the first generation's dates and the point makes itself. Habeas corpus is older, but universal suffrage, freedom of association in its modern form, and most protections against arbitrary policing are twentieth-century achievements, and the eight-hour day is older than the vote for women in almost every State that has both.
The three streams that produced the category
Poor relief and the duty of the community
The oldest stream. The English Poor Law of 1601 made relief a legal duty of the parish, funded by a rate. It was harsh, it was tied to settlement in a parish, and it was administered punitively. But it was a legal duty, and its existence three centuries before the Declaration disposes of the idea that the notion of a public obligation to subsistence was invented in 1948.
The French version was more ambitious and shorter-lived. The Constitution of 1793 declared that public relief is a sacred debt, that society owes subsistence to unfortunate citizens either by procuring work or by assuring the means of existence to those unable to work, and that education is a requirement for all. It never took effect, and it is the earliest statement of the second generation as a matter of right rather than charity.
Industrialisation and the labour movement
The factory acts. Beginning in 1802 and running through the nineteenth century, English legislation limited hours, restricted the employment of children, required ventilation and schooling, and created an inspectorate. Each statute was fought.
Note the mechanism, because it matters for [Social Movements and Rights From Below]. These rights were not granted by an enlightened legislature; they were extracted by organised labour using freedoms of association, assembly and expression. The second generation was won with first generation tools, which is the strongest available argument against ranking the two.
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