【作者】蒂尔尼
【内容提要】
Dworkin pointed out that the necessary basis of all other rights is an "abstract right to concern and respect taken to be fundamental and axiomatic."' The axiom entered the mainstream of medieval jurisprudence in the first words of Gratian's Decretum, the foundation of the whole subsequent structure of Western canon law. "The human race is ruled by two means, namely by natural law and usages. The law of nature is what is contained in the Law and the Gospel, by which each is ordered to do to another what he wants done to himself and is forbidden to do to another what he does not want done to himself." Or in modern language, one might say, "Show concern and respect." But if the notion of individual rights is implicit in Christian tradition, it has not always been explicit. Developed in one way, Christian thought can lead to intolerance and persecution, to a denial of the rights that we should consider most basic.