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!