Civil liberties are personal guarantees and freedoms that the
government cannot abridge, either by law or by
judicial interpretation without due process. Though the scope of the term differs amongst various countries, some examples of civil liberties include the
freedom from torture,
freedom from forced disappearance,
freedom of conscience,
freedom of press,
freedom of religion,
freedom of expression,
freedom of assembly, the right to security and
liberty,
freedom of speech, the right to
privacy, the right to
equal treatment under the law and
due process, the
right to a fair trial, and the
right to life. Other civil liberties include the
right to own property, the
right to defend oneself, and the right to
bodily integrity. Within the distinctions between civil liberties and other types of liberty, distinctions exist between
positive liberty/
positive rights and
negative liberty/
negative rights.