Freedom of association

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v t e

Freedom of association encompasses both an individual's right to join or leave groups voluntarily, the right of the group to take

The courts and delegated officers of local jurisdictions may impose restrictions on any of the rights of a convicted criminal as a condition of a legal stipulation. Rights to freedom of association and freedom of assembly are waived under certain circumstances, such as a guilty plea or conviction, restraining orders and probationer's search and seizure procedures.

History

The general freedom to associate with groups according to the choice of the individual, and for the groups to take action to promote their interests, has been a necessary feature of every democratic society. Because freedom of association necessarily recognizes pluralistic sources of power and organisation, aside from the government, it has been a primary target for repression by all dictatorial societies. In the

Law

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

Section 2 of the Charter, under the heading of "Fundamental Freedoms", states:

Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:

...

d) freedom of association.

Under Canadian jurisprudence, freedom of association has three dimensions: the "constitutive" right to form associations with other people, a "derivative" right to collectively invoke other constitutional rights, and the "purposive" right to collectively bargain in order to be on equal footing with other groups and entities.^[3]

European Convention

Italian Constitution

In Italy the freedom of association is established in Article 18 of the Constitution, which states:^[4]

Citizens have the right to form associations freely and without authorization for those ends that are not forbidden by criminal law. Secret associations and associations that, even indirectly, pursue political aims by means of organisations having a military character shall be forbidden.

South African Bill of Rights

The

United States Constitution

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v t e

While the

• Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen v. Virginia, 377 U.S. 1 (1964)
• United Mine Workers v. Illinois State Bar Association, 389 U.S. 217 (1967)
• Healy v. James, 408 U.S. 169 (1972)
• NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co., 458 U.S. 898 (1982)
• Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, 530 U.S. 640 (2000)
• Janus v. AFSCME, No. 16-1466, 585 U.S. ___ (2018)

Issues

Intimate association

A fundamental element of

Expressive association

In the United States, expressive associations are groups that engage in activities protected by the First Amendment –

This concept continues to apply broadly to private groups, notwithstanding the Supreme Court's ruling in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez (2010), which upheld Hastings College of Law policy that a student group on campus could not enjoy university recognition while excluding people from group activities by requiring them to undergo a religious test. The Court found that the school's conditions on recognizing student groups were viewpoint neutral and reasonable. The policy requires student organizations to allow "any student to participate, become a member, or seek leadership positions, regardless of their status or beliefs" and so, can be used to deny the group recognition as an official student organization because it had required its members to attest in writing that "I believe in: The Bible as the inspired word of God; The Deity of our Lord, Jesus Christ, God's son; The vicarious death of Jesus Christ for our sins; His bodily resurrection and His personal return; The presence and power of the Holy Spirit in the work of regeneration; [and] Jesus Christ, God's son, is Lord of my life." The Court reasoned that Hastings sought to treat all student groups equally; the CLS, on the other hand, sought an exemption to apply a religious test to their membership. Thus, the college's all-comers policy is a reasonable, viewpoint-neutral condition on access to the student organization forum.^[8]

Limitation

The implicit First Amendment right of association in the

See also:

US labor law, European labour law, and International labour law

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v t e

The organization of labor was commonly resisted during the 19th century, with even relatively liberal countries such as the United Kingdom banning it for various periods (in the UK's case, between 1820 and 1824).^[10]

In the international labour movement, the freedom of association is a right identified under international labour standards as the right of workers to organize and

Convention C87 and Convention C98 – two of the eight fundamental, core international labour standards. 'Freedom of association' can also refer to legal bans on private contracts negotiated between a private employer and their employees requiring workers at a particular workplace to join a union as a term and condition of employment. Supporters of this sort of private freedom of association claim that the right to join a union incorporates a right not to join a union. In the United States, the term 'right to work

' is more common for this type of law.

"The Supreme Court today (1-21-1997) sharply limited the ability of labor union organizers to go onto an employer's property to distribute literature or urge workers to join the union. In a 6-to-3 opinion written by Justice Clarence Thomas, the Court said that the National Labor Relations Board had failed to give adequate protection to employers' property rights when it adopted a rule four years ago that gave union organizers greater access to areas like the parking lots of shopping centers or factories." -New York Times[11]

Theory

Democracy and civil society

Jeremy McBride argues that respecting the freedom of association by all public authorities and the exercising of this freedom by all sections of society are essential both to establish a "genuine democracy" and to ensure that, once achieved, it remains "healthy and flourishing". In this regard he sees the formation of political parties as a significant manifestation of the freedom of association.

The freedom of association is however not only exercised in the political sense, but also for a vast array of interests – such as culture, recreation, sport and social and humanitarian assistance. Jeremy McBride argues that the formation of

NGOs), which he equates with civil society, is the "fruit of associational activity".^[1]

Libertarian

Right-libertarians believe that while freedom of association includes the right for workers to organise as unions and to withdraw their labour it also recognises the right of an employer to replace that labour.^[12] They also believe that where unions employ coercive or violent tactics, such behaviours would be in breach of both individual rights and property rights. Some critics of unionism allege that such breaches have frequently been the case with union activity.^[13]

See also

• Civil liberties
• Free association (Marxism and anarchism)
• Free State Project
• Libertarian socialism
• Self-determination
• United Nations
  Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association
• Voluntaryism

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} McBride, Jeremy (2005). Freedom of Association, The Essentials of Human Rights, London: Hodder Arnold, p. 18 ^{[ISBN missing]}
2. ^ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 20, 2
3. ^ "Charterpedia – Section 2(d) – Freedom of association". Government of Canada Department of Justice. 1999-11-09. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
4. ^ "The Italian Constitution" (PDF). Presidency of the Italian Republic. Archived from the original on 2016-11-27.
5. Constitution of South Africa Chapter 2: Bill of Rights
6. ^ Wayne Batchis, Citizens United and the Paradox of "Corporate Speech": From Freedom of Association to Freedom of The Association, 36 N.Y.U. Rev. L. & Soc. Change 5 Archived 2013-05-13 at the Wayback Machine (2012).
7. ^ Hudson, David (2009-06-16). "Freedom of Association – The First Amendment Encyclopedia". Middle Tennessee State University. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
8. ^ "Christian Legal Society Chapter v. Martinez". Oyez. Chicago-Kent College of Law at Illinois Tech. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
9. ^ 427 U.S. 160 (1976).
10. ^ "Right of Voluntary Association" . Catholic Encyclopedia. 1913.
11. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved 2019-06-26.
12. ^ "A free market in labour: libertarians, employment and the unions". Adam Smith Institute.
13. DiLorenzo, Thomas J. (14 September 2004). "The Myth of Voluntary Unions". Mises Institute
    .