Some universally recognized rights seen as fundamental, i.e., contained in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the U.N. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, or the U.N. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, include the following:
Though many fundamental rights are also widely considered human rights, the classification of a right as fundamental invokes specific legal tests courts use to determine the constrained conditions under which the United States government and various state governments may limit these rights. In such legal contexts,courts determine whether rights are fundamental by examining the historical foundations of those rights, and determining whether their protection is part of a longstanding tradition. Individual states may guarantee other rights as fundamental, (i.e.), States may add to fundamental rights but can never diminish or infringe upon our fundamental rights by legislative processes. Any such attempt requires a "strict scrutiny" review by the U.S. Supreme Court.
In Canada, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms outlines four Fundamental Freedoms. These are freedom of:
Europe has no identical doctrine (It would be incompatible with the more restrained role of judicial review in European law.) However, E.U. law recognizes many of the same human rights and protects them through other means.
See also: Copenhagen criteria, and European Convention on Human Rights, which every member state of the EU has to comply with and for which the European Court of Human Rights has final appellate jurisdiction.
The Indian fundamental rights, contrasted with such rights contained in the U. S. bill of rights, present several peculiarities.The fundamental rights in India are far more elaborate than in the U. S. A. Thus, for example, the U. S. bill of rights (first ten amendments) only names some rights. The Supreme Court, through the process of judicial review decides the limitations on these rights.