HUMAN RIGHTS
Georg Braulik, "Das Deuteronomium und die Menschenrechte",
Theologische Quartalschrift 166 (1986), 8-24; see OTA 10/1
(1987), no.268.
Haim H. Cohn, Human Rights in Jewish Law, New York: Ktav Publishing
House, Inc. for The Institute of Jewish Affairs, London, 1984, ISBN 0-88125-036-8,
Pp. viii, 266, Price: $20.00. - In this stimulating book, Justice Cohn,
recently retired as Deputy President of the Israel Supreme Court and the
author of numerous scholarly works, assesses the stance of the Jewish tradition
on human rights issues. He finds much relevant, and mainly positive material
on 25 of the human rights enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. There are chapters on the Rights to Life, Liberty, and Security,
Privacy, Reputation, Asylum, Marriage and Family, Property, Work and Renumeration,
Leisure, and Education and Participation in Culture, on the Freedoms of
Movement and Residence, Thought, Speech and Conscience, and Information,
on Slavery, and on Rights of Equality, involving prohibitions of discrimination
on account of race, religion, nationality, sex, birth or property. A further
major section of the book deals with rights relevant to the administration
of justice: equality before the law, judicial standards, procedural safeguards,
freedom from torture and cruel punishments, retrospective legislation, etc.
An introductory chapter deals thoughtfully with the relationship between
rights and duties in the context of religious and secular systems of law,
conceding that "human rights" as a concept is unknown to the Jewish
tradition, which uses the more concrete duties as a means of implementing
such values. Justice Cohn has collected and compressed an immense array
of sources into a thought-provoking study, which will attract deserved attention
from both laymen and jurists. (B.S.J.)
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