Social law

Social rights consist of a group of rights that are guaranteed by ordinary legislation, social rights are fundamental and are affirmed by the national Constitution and international human rights treaties. They are inspired by justice and are responsible for regulating people' behavior within society, thus allowing the resolution of social conflicts that may arise in a given place. It looks for ways to control and establish equality among the individuals of a nation in order to safeguard social security.

Related topics

Agricultural law, family law, law merchant, natural law, positive law, public law, roman law, labor law

What is social law?

Social law is the area of law that is based on the principles and different norms whose main objective is to protect, watch over and establish the behavior and attitudes of men, ensuring equality within social classes.

About social law

They consist of a group of principles and rules or regulations that seek the sole purpose of protecting, integrating and monitoring the appropriate behavior of individuals who live within a society, either in the middle of it or in the workplaces. Social law is the equivalent of human rights and also seek ways to make the rights and guarantees of the sectors that are most affected by society, more flexible and increased. It is the law’s way of promoting order and repairing the differences that may exist between social groups in order to provide protection.

Characteristics

The main features of social law are the following:

• It is a cultural and a human
• It has multiple instrumental functions.
• It is a dynamic
• It is known as a process and not as a single act.
• It has a systematic presence and its norms are hierarchical.
• It is based on social reality.
• It seeks to provide balance to human interests.
• It seeks to establish social values in order to promote order.

Branches of social law

Social law is divided into four different branches, all of equal importance to society.

Labor Law

This is the kind of right that protects workers, and which also involves companies, employers, trade unions and government. Within it, we find collective and individual labor legislation. The Collective refers to the relationship between the employee, the boss and the union. The individual refers to the rights each worker has.

Right to social security

It is the type of social right that guarantees people, regardless of age or ability, the means they need to achieve basic services. It consists of the principles of integrity (social security covering the loss of livelihoods), flexibility (flexible retirement ages depending on the work performed), and non-discrimination (social security must be for all without discrimination of any kind, i.e. sex, ethnicity, health, sexuality, language, religion, etc.).

Migration law

It involves the government policies of a nation that controls immigration and people’ deportation. These laws vary from place to place and are regulated by international law. Each country is responsible for defining the amount of time a person can be in the country and the rights of the same.

Agrarian Law

It includes the agrarian laws that regulate and exploit agricultural land and is one of the most important branches of social law as it gives protection to workers who own land.

Background and History

Some historians consider that social law was born from a series of sociological causes obeying a group of circumstances. In this way, the Industrial Revolution and the liberal economic system gave rise to the working class and Social Law. From the moment the different society groups appeared and social law was initiated, social rights have a history based on a series of revolutions and struggles,

Evolution

Social law evolved with the advent of the Renaissance, which produced a new and revitalized idea of law to promote equality of relationship between the individuals of a society. Before that time, Roman law applied to all communities. When the modern state emerged, they arose with different types of law, including social law.

Aims

The purposes of the social right imply that all persons in a place have the same rights to health, to education, to work in order to obtain a productive occupation, to protection for families and individuals, to social security as a public service guaranteeing health, to trade unionism and to strikes.

Importance of social law

It is important because it points out the equality that exists between men and women with respect to the law, since all individuals can enjoy the same rights regardless of their ethnicity, social class, language, religion, skin color, type of work, studies, disabilities, and so on. It clearly states that everyone has the right to the services that the State can provide and, for this reason, sets out the laws and guidelines to be followed in order to achieve it.

Examples

Some examples of social rights would be:

• The right to a job and to a fair wage.
• Right to social protection in cases of need.
• Right to decent housing.
• Right to education.
• Right to health.
• The right to a healthy environment, to access to culture and to all areas of public life.
• Right to food and food sovereignty.