civil whats?

[asterroc]

I've known for a while that I had tags for both "civil liberties" and "civil rights." I'm not really sure why I created two separate ones, so I was about to go and lump them all together. Which got me to thinking, is there a distinction between the two terms? I really don't know, so if you do, help me out. :-P

Comments

[meredithanne42.livejournal.com]

There is a subtle difference, though I'm not sure that I could explain it, or that I understand it. I do know that at work, we talk about defending our "civil liberties" a lot, and wouldn't normally use "civil rights" as a substitute in an action alert.

I think "civil liberties" refers more to rights granted by the constitution, and "civil rights" have more to do with legalities born from judicial decisions or established codes/laws...which themselves are usually rooted in and formed from the constitution.