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About this quote

What does it mean?
Any law that breaches fundamental human rights is unjust, tyrannical, and not a law at all.
In plain terms
Laws violating basic rights are not true laws.
What can you take from it?
Reject laws that infringe on inalienable rights.

Where it applies

  • legislative review
  • human rights advocacy

Putting it to work

  • challenge unconstitutional statutes
  • educate citizens on rights

Questions to consider

  • How do we determine which rights are inseparable?
  • What mechanisms ensure laws respect those rights?

Another view

Defining 'fundamental rights' can be contentious.

More from Maximilien Robespierre

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  3. A nation is truly corrupt, when, after having by degrees lost its character and liberty, it slides from democracy into aristocracy or monarchy; this is the dea…

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