ABSTRACT
The articles that follow vary from the very highest order of generality (e.g. Art. I; 'All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood') to reasonably specific recommendations (e.g. Art. 25: ' . . . the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control'). These are not in any sense statements of fact; if we wanted to disagree with them, we should not have to prove that men did or did not possess these rights, in the sense that they possess arms and legs. Earlier formulations like the American Declaration of Independence, by using terms like 'selfevident truths' invited this sort of interpretation and gave rise to needless confusion. For these are obviously "prescriptive statements which commanded wide support among member nations (or their governments), and which they were prepared to subscribe to, not as formulae by which their policies were to be determined, but as general aims, and 'common standards of achievement'.
