Rights are legal, social, or ethical
principles of
freedom or
entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental
normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people, according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theory. Rights are of essential importance in such disciplines as
law and
ethics, especially theories of
justice and
deontology. Rights are often considered fundamental to
civilization, being regarded as established pillars of
society and
culture, and the history of
social conflicts can be found in the history of each right and its development. According to the
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, "rights structure the form of
governments, the content of
laws, and the shape of
morality as it is currently perceived."