EIRP Proceedings, Vol 3 (2008)

Abstract

In the theory of rights we repeatedly encounter the problem of reconciling someone's having
a right with his properly suffering damage to the interest protected by the right. In the case of the right to life, we
have to assess numerous situations in which individuals are killed or allowed to die, and we wish nonetheless to
affirm this fundamental right of theirs. These cases include killing an aggressor in self-defence, accidental
homicide, terminating life-sustaining therapy, and capital punishment. The right to life has always been
considered as one of the most substantial rights of the individual yet also the most natural. The Declaration of
Independence of the Thirteen Colonies, which is regarded as the founding document of the United States of
America, proclaims that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”, and that a government has
the obligation to secure the unalienable rights of its people. Some Constitutions do not expressly refer to the
right to life, yet their settlements protect this basic right. It is in this specific category that there can be included
all Romanian Constitutions, except for the present one, together with the Constitutions of France, Italy and
Sweden.