Henry I...

Henry I, Stephen and Henry II continued to promise that they will accept this charter but they did not keep their promise. But King John, who was also known as John, the Tyrant because of his hard temperament, signed this charter. It is said that he did bow under the pressure of Barons. This charter was also issued in 1216, 1217 and 1325 after being amended and modified[^34] .

The expression ‘fundamental rights of man ‘were stated in the declaration and constitutional instruments of many states[^35] . Thus, the term human rights came somewhat late in the vocabulary of mankind. It is a twentieth century name for what has been traditionally known as Natural rights or the rights of Man. It was first used by Thomas Paine in the English translation of the French Declaration of the rights of Man and citizen.

The term natural law was replaced because the concept of natural law had become a matter of great controversy and the phrase ‘the rights of man’ was found unsuitable as it was not universally understood to include the rights of women[^36] .

The idea that human rights could be protected by International law in addition to municipal law developed slowly mainly because state sovereignty … the doctrine of state sovereignty continued to prevail in the ninetieth and early twentieth century where in human rights question were regarded as a matters entirely within each state’s own domestic jurisdiction and wholly inappropriate for regulation by international law.

International human rights were considered as an attack upon the concept of state sovereignty. No doubt, there were exceptions to the above rule which included the adoption of the slavery conventions of 1926 and the establishment in 1919 of the International labour organization and its subsequent activities. The covenant of the League of Nations adopted at the end of First World War was silent on the issue of human rights.

It pledged for the protection of minority rights and respect for the human rights of the subject peoples under the mandate system whereby newly decolonized nations were to be assisted towards political development. However, the protection of human rights was dependent upon the provisions of the natural laws[^37] .