# rights (moral)

a condition for people that they are free and that others should not change

- Computed level: L9 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: emergence  ·  Arena: rights

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [condition](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-condition.state), [people](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-people.social), [free](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-free.unconstrained), [policy](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-policy.governance), [change](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-change.process), [others](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-others.distinct-entities)

**Through:** when a persistent social condition of freedom, recognized among distinct entities, is protected by a governing policy against change, a moral right emerges.

**Novel properties:**
- protected freedom
- interpersonal claim
- normative stability

## Examples
- The 1951 Refugee Convention established legal protections for displaced persons fleeing persecution. *(institutions)*
- In 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry. *(law)*
- The Magna Carta, signed in 1215, limited the English king's power to imprison freemen without trial. *(history)*

## Used by
- [license](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-license.legal) (L10)

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*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-rights.moral*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-rights.moral.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*