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CAN
THEY DO THAT ?
CIVIL
RIGHTS
WRIGHT
& MILLS, P.A..
MY NEIGHBORS
CALLED ME A BUM AND TOLD ME NOT TO DRIVE
BY THEIR HOUSE. I FEEL MY CIVIL RIGHTS
HAVE BEEN VIOLATED. THEY CAN'T DO THAT,
CAN THEY?
Yes,
they can!
"Civil
rights" generally refers to the rights
granted to us by the United States
Constitution. These are rights, such as
the right to jury trial, First Amendment
rights and Fifth Amendment rights, with
which the government may not interfere.
A
person's civil rights include the right of
free speech, and the government will not
step in and punish a person for exercising
free speech unless that speech endangers
someone else.
In
our country people have the right to say
what they want to as long as they do not
threaten violence or cry fire in a crowded
theater or slander someone.
While
someone may ask you not to drive by their
house, you still have the same right as
the next person to use the public roads.
Merely asking you to stop doing something
you have a right to do does not violate
your civil rights and does not give you a
right to sue your neighbors.
If
it gets to the point that your neighbors
are harassing you, you may seek a
Protection From Harassment Order from the
District Court by filing an affidavit with
the court saying how the neighbors are
harassing you.
If
the courts got involved in settling every
neighborhood dispute, however, we would
not have enough judges to go around and
they would not have time to grant
divorces, hear child custody cases and try
criminal cases.
So
remember, just because another individual
is not nice to you does not mean your
"civil rights" have been violated.
It's
the law!
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