Introduction-

Dworkin proposes to take rights seriously. He characterizes a right as follows: "If someone
has a right to something, then it is wrong for the government to deny it to him even though it
would be in the general interest to do. Rights, then, are legal or moral considerations which
mere utilitarian grounds are insufficient to deny.1 An analysis of the right to liberty would
reveal what specific rights were encompassed in the category, that is, what specific actions
are protected from interference.

The Paradox: Seeking to choose between Conscience and duty to obey law:

In the article, Dworkin seeks to explore the implications of those including the US
Government that profess to accept that citizens have moral rights against the government.
The paradox: that men have a duty to obey the law but have the right to follow their
consciences when it conflicts with that duty seeks to point out a monstrous contradiction.
Such contradictions as the writer says, “cripples attempt to develop a coherent theory of how
a government that respects rights must behave.”

Dworkin seems to be dwelling on three main propositions which are not coherent with one
another

1. The government has little justification for preventing disobedience to a law which the
individual believes violates his rights.
2. The individual is the final arbiter of when the government has infringed on his rights.
3. The consequences of, in terms of disobedience and lawbreaking, would be small.

The paradox runs much deeper: if the individual is given the final say in deciding as to
whether violation has occurred or that the infringement is a legitimate one, that would lead to
the situation falling in chaos. However, Dworkin never discusses who decides when the
government has violated a right illegitimately but he also sys that no one has the right to have
all the laws of the nation enforced.

Striking the balance:

Dworkin proposes two models in this regard:

1. Finding a balance between the rights of the individual and the demands of the society
at large.

1
Douglas N. Husak review on “Taking Rights Seriously by Ronald Dworkin”
 2. Political equality

The first model though seems to be a plausible idea but involves a major complexity: the
government’s It is a complex and troublesome practice that makes the Government’s job of
securing the general benefit more difficult and more expensive, and it would be a frivolous
and wrongful practice unless it served some point