united-states human-rights
What types of rights can be waived, and what types of rights cannot?
<h3>How can I find out what kinds of rights can be waived, and in what manner?</h3>
<p>For example:</p>
<ul>
<li>Can I waive any of my Constitutional rights? What kinds require a contract, and what kinds are waived through not exercising them at the proper time?</li>
<li>Can I waive any of my statutory rights? What kinds require a contract, and what kinds are waived through not exercising them at the proper time?</li>
<li>Any other rights I'm missing?</li>
</ul>
<h3>Note:</h3>
<ul>
<li><p>I mean without having to go ask a lawyer every single time, obviously.</p>
</li>
<li><p>I'm <strong>not</strong> asking anyone to make me a table of all possible rights and waiving mechanisms!<br />
I just want some rules of thumb, and/or pointers to existing lists if they happen to exist.</p>
</li>
</ul>

<p>Unwaivable rights are often rights created by statute. A right is &quot;Unwaivable&quot; if a contract not to exercise it is void, or voidable. That does not mean that one must exercise  all one's rights. Failing to exercise a right is often not the same as waiving it.</p>
<p>Unwaivable rights are are common in consumer protection laws, to prevent sellers, who have much more negotiation power, from forcing consumers to contract away the rights granted by statute, thus making the statutes meaningless. They are also common in landlord/tenant laws, and credit reporting laws, for similar reasons.</p>
<p>Many constitutional rights are waivable, but some are not. For example, in the US, one cannot waive one's rights under the 13th Amendment. A contract of voluntary slavery, or a peonage contract, is legally void in the US.</p>
<p>The only way to know which rights are waivable is to do research, or have someone do it, into the particular right. Such rights are often created by law when one party typically has a strong negotiating advantage, but that is not always the case.</p>
