The Fifth Virginia Convention adopted a declaration of rights, an influential document that proclaimed the inherent rights of men.

The Fifth Virginia Convention was a meeting of the Patriot legislature of Virginia held in Williamsburg from May 6 to July 5, 1776. This Convention declared Virginia an independent state and produced its first constitution and the Virginia Declaration of Rights.

The Virginia Declaration of Rights was drafted in 1776 to proclaim the inherent rights of men, including the right to reform or abolish "inadequate" government. It influenced a number of later documents, including the United States Declaration of Independence (1776) and the United States Bill of Rights (1789).

Some philosophers distinguish two types of rights, natural rights and legal rights.

• Natural rights are those that are not dependent on the laws or customs of any particular culture or government, and so are universal, fundamental and inalienable. Natural law is the law of natural rights.
• Legal rights are those bestowed onto a person by a given legal system. The concept of positive law is related to the concept of legal rights.