Things You Are Not Allowed To Do – The Law Page

In Lesson Four: The Work Page, we talked about things you have to do. Compare:

things you have to do
things that you have to do

with

things you are not allowed to do
things that you are not allowed to do

The first pair are active voice. The second pair are passive voice. You can find grammar notes and examples of passive and active voice at this link: the passive page

Ways to say it

You are not allowed to do that.
It is forbidden to do that.
That is prohibited.

Style notes – a subtle point – Advanced Level – Sociolinguistics

Note that the words “forbidden” and “prohibited” are written style and they sound hard or inhumane to the native speaker. In informal spoken style it is more common to say “not allowed” and to use “you are allowed to” or “you are not allowed to” rather than “it is prohibited” and “it is forbidden”.

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Which Greek Philosopher said:

The more laws, the more corrupt the state?

If life is simple and people are good and trustworthy then laws are not necessary. Everybody follows the law naturally.

The real laws are natural law. They are just common sense.

Natural Law and Cosmic Law

The basic natural law is the law of one.

Laws are not just what we are not allowed to do.

Laws are also the guarantee of our rights as human beings on planet earth.

List of things that you are allowed to do

You are allowed to be free.
You are allowed to be be happy.
You are allowed to walk about.
You are allowed to work.
You are allowed to eat and drink.
You are allowed to sing.

List of things that you are not allowed to do

You are not allowed to stop others from being free.
You are not allowed to inhibit the freedom of others.
You are not allowed to impinge on the freedom of others.

You are not allowed to stop others from being happy.
You are not allowed to inhibit the happiness of others.
You are not allowed to impinge on the happiness of others.

You are not allowed to stop others from walking about.
You are not allowed to inhibit the right to walk about of others.
You are not allowed to impinge on the right to walk about of others.

You are not allowed to stop others from working.
You are not allowed to inhibit the right to work of others.
You are not allowed to impinge on the right to work of others.

You are not allowed to stop others from eating and drinking.
You are not allowed to inhibit the right to eat and drink of others.
You are not allowed to impinge on the right to eat and drink of others.

Has somebody tried to impinge on your basic human rights? Tell us about it. Tell us what happened in the comments section below.

The History and Status of Human Rights

Humans have rights
Humans have human rights.
You cannot take them away.
They are inviolable.
They are sacred.
They are sacrosanct.

Human rights are beyond time. They are eternal;. They are part of our constitution as human beings. We are free!

The Other Side of the Coin

“The other side of the coin” is a metaphor for “the other view” or “the other viewpoint” or “the reverse of the initial proposition” or in this case “the unfortunate reality”.

They can be taken away by violence.
They can be taken away by intimidation.
They can be taken away by theft.
They can be taken away by threat.
They can be taken away by murder or fear of murder.
They can be taken away by force.

But they cannot be taken away legally.

Human Rights Cannot be Taken away Legally

In a society where human beings exist, they have basic human rights.

These rights cannot be taken away legally.
They cannot legally be taken away.
They cannot be taken away by the government.
They cannot legally be taken away by the government.

They can be taken away by force but they cannot be taken away by law.

Making a Point and Reinforcing it with Repetition and Deixis

To attempt to take away the human rights of another is to violate the fundamental social contract.
We do not violate human rights.
That is not what we do.
We do not do that.

Categorical Statements

No government has the right to take away the human rights of any human being.
No government has the right to violate the human rights of any human being.
No government has the right to impinge upon the human rights of any human being.
No government has the right to infringe on the human rights of any human being.

Link to the government page

No police officer has the right to take away the human rights of any human being.
No police officer has the right to violate the human rights of any human being.
No police officer has the right to impinge upon the human rights of any human being.
No police officer has the right to infringe on the human rights of any human being.

Have you ever been arrested?

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Link to transcript

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No soldier has the right to take away the human rights of any human being.
No soldier has the right to violate the human rights of any human being.
No soldier has the right to impinge upon the human rights of any human being.
No soldier has the right to infringe on the human rights of any human being.

No security guard has the right to take away the human rights of any human being.
No security guard has the right to violate the human rights of any human being.
No security guard has the right to impinge upon the human rights of any human being.
No security guard has the right to infringe on the human rights of any human being.

No ASIO agent has the right to take away the human rights of any human being.
No ASIO agent has the right to violate the human rights of any human being.
No ASIO agent has the right to impinge upon the human rights of any human being.
No ASIO agent has the right to infringe on the human rights of any human being.

In Australia they are preparing to enact a law which will give the government secret security forces the right to access your computer remotely and to upload material onto it and to disguise the fact that they did this. That means they are legislating to give their agents the right to frame any member of society.

Link to Getup Australia video with transcript and audio: Topic: Privacy in Australia. IELTS Preparation.

Expanding Drill with Synonym

They are legislating to give the power to frame people.
They are legislating to give the power to frame people to the security forces.
They are legislating to give the power to make fraudulent arrests to the security forces.
They are legislating to give power to ASIO agents to frame people and arrest them and imprison them.
They are making laws that will allow ASIO agents to frame people and arrest them and imprison them.

Contact the Attorney General Nicola Roxon and tell her not to give these powers to ASIO:

Link to Nicola Roxon’s website

Vocabulary – Jurisdiction

They cannot do that.
They do not have the authority to do that.
They do not have the jurisdiction to do that.
They do not have the right to do that.
They do not have the power to do that.
They do not have the legislative power to do that.

Moral Imperatives

They cannot do that
They should not be able to do that.

They are not allowed to do that.
They should not be allowed to do that.

There are a number of ways of looking at this

one way
two ways
a few ways
several ways
a number of ways
lots of ways
a lot of ways

What do you think?

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Write your answers and opinions in the comments section below.

Links to Law Videos

Freedom to Fascism – Aaron Russo

The Australian Situation

The British Legal System

A Scene in a Courtroom

What is a scam?

Vocabulary

court
courtroom
lawyer
solicitor
judge
prosecutor
the defendant
the accused

What is the difference between “unlawful” and “illegal”?

Click the link to find out!

World English Course

There are lots of things you can learn in the World English Course. There is a place where you can talk about work and there is also a place where you can find a job and a place where you can find staff. There is a place where you can have fun and there is a place where you can talk about food or family. There is also a place where you can talk about money or love or philosophy. You can study anything you want anytime you want. You can do it once a week or every day or any time you like. Have fun! Work hard! Tell your friends and family members! Enjoy!