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 DEFINITION OF RIGHT

a Right is an interest recognized, saved and enforced by law. A

man has several rights that may be over tangible/intangible
objects.
a Rights in respect of a person include right not to be physically
assaulted or injured, right to reputation, rights in respect of
domestic relations and rights in respect of other rights e.g.
contractual rights.
a Rights over intangible objects include patent-rights, copyrights,
trademarks and commercial goodwill.
a There may be other rights of a contractual nature such as those
rendered for service e.g. master and servant, doctor and patient.
 þEGAþ RIGHTS IN A WIDER SENSE
a A right may also be defined as an advantage or benefit
conferred upon a person by a rule of law.
a They are of 4 types:
0 Rights (in the strict sense)
0 þiberties
0 Powers
0 Immunities
a Each of these has a correlative namely:
0 Duties
0 No-Rights
0 þiabilities
0 Disabilities
 þEGAþ RIGHTS IN A WIDER SENSE

RIGHTS þIBERTY
(|
  (No duty)
)

DUTY NO-RIGHT

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 RIGHTS AND þIBERTIES
a Each and every right has a corresponding duty
a Duty may be defined as an internal feeling of an
obligation towards someone
a Rights and duties are like µ2 sides of a coin¶
a þegal rights (in the strict sense) are the benefits which are
derived from legal duties imposed upon other persons
a þiberty may be defined as an activity that is carried out
without being prevented by the law
a The sphere of legal liberty is that sphere within which the
law is content to leave the person alone
 þIBERTIES

a þiberty does not mean interference with another e.g.

liberty to express opinion on public affairs but no right to
publish defamatory/libel statement
a Similarly, one has the liberty to self-defense against
violence but not to engage in revenge upon someone who
has caused the injury
a þiberty is defined as unrestrained activity allowed by law
a The difference between rights in strict sense and liberty is
that those things which other persons 
to do for me
are classified as rights in strict sense and what things I
 do for myself are classified as liberty
 þIBERTIES CONTD.
a þegal liberty is a legal right not to be interfered with by other
persons in the exercise of one¶s activities i.e. other persons are
under a legal duty not to prevent me from expressing opinions
a There exist liberties which are not accompanied by protecting
rights e.g. if a landowner gives license to go on his land, I have
a right in the sense of liberty to go on his land, he has an equal
right or liberty to stop me. The license has no other effect than
to make that lawful which would otherwise be unlawful.
a An alien has a liberty to enter a country but the executive
government has an equal right in the same sense to keep him
out
 NO-RIGHTS
a No-right is a manufactured word indicating absence of a
right against another in some particular respect
a B has no-right against A means that B does not have a
right against A
a A¶s liberty to do a thing means that B does not have a right
that it shall not be done e.g. A trespasser has a no-right not
to be forcibly ejected corresponding to the occupier¶s
liberty to eject him.
a All cases of 6

   are cases of no-right
 NO-RIGHTS CONTD.
a No-right is a negative concept. An alien has a liberty to
enter a country means he is under no duty not to enter and
similarly, authorities have no-right against him means they
have no right in the strict sense though they may have
liberty (no duty not) to prevent him.
þEGAþ RIGHTS IN A WIDER SENSE

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 POWERS

a Powers form another class of legal rights e.g. right to make a

will, alienate property, power of sale vested in a mortgagee,
landlord¶s right of re-entry, right to marry one¶s deceased
wife¶s sister, the power to sue and prosecute, right to rescind a
contract for fraud, power of appointment, right of issuing
execution on a judgement, and various powers vested in judges
and other officials for fulfillment of functions
a Powers are legally recognized interests i.e. advantages
conferred by law. They are defined as the ability to alter, by
own will directed to that end, the rights, duties, liabilities and
other legal relations either of himself or other persons
 POWERS DIFFERENTIATED FROM RIGHTS

a Resemble liberties and differ from rights in the strict sense

as they have no corresponding duties to them e.g. right to
make a will corresponds to no duty in any one else
a Similarly, a mortgagee¶s power of sale is not correlative of
duty imposed upon the mortgagor. A debt is not the same
thing as a right of action for recovery. The former is a
right in the strict and proper sense and the latter is a power
that corresponds to the liability of the debtor to be sued
 POWERS DIFFERENTIATED FROM þIBERTIES

a Power is not identical to liberty. The right to make a will

does not mean that I do no wrong. It does not mean that I
may make a will innocently, it means that I can make a
will can be made effectively
a Similarly, if a right to marry my cousin exists, it does not
mean such a marriage is legally innocent, but that it is
legally valid
a A landlord¶s right to re-entry does not mean he does the
tenant no wrong but by doing so, he can effectively
terminate the lease
 TYPES OF POWERS

a Powers can be either private or public. Former are those

which are vested in a person as an agent or instrument of
the functions of the state such as legislative, judicial and
executive powers.
a The latter refers to powers vested in persons to be
exercised for their own purposes
a 

 is defined as the power over other persons and
 
 is the power over oneself
 þIABIþITIES

a Correlative of power is liability that denotes the presence

of power in one as opposed to the person with the liability.
It may also be defined as the one whose legal rights in the
wide sense can be altered by the exercise of power
a Examples include liability of a tenant to have his lease
determined by re-entry, that of a mortgagor to have
property sold by the mortgagee, that of a judgement
debtor to have execution issued against him and that of an
unfaithful spouse to be divorced
 þIABIþITIES
a þiability is independent of the question of the outcome of a
particular action/prosecution and is thus, independent the duty
to pay damages for a civil wrong
a For instance, a tortfeasor is under a duty to pay damages and is
liable to be sued in tort (³tortious liability´) but a person who
has not committed any tort is also liable to be sued, though the
action will fail in this case
a þiability can be held to be co-incident of no-right ± goods
seized for non-payment of rent states that a tenant has no-right
against the landlord not to have his goods touched and a
liability to have them impounded and sold against his will
a þiability may be beneficial e.g. a person exercising power by
making a gift of his property results in others having a liability
to receive it.
 IMMUNITIES

a Right may also mean an immunity against a legal power.

a Immunity means an exemption from having a given legal
relation changed by another.
a An example is the right of a peer to be tried by his peers ±
this would be classified as an exemption from trial by a
jury.
a Immunity stands in the same relation to power as liberty
does to right in strict sense
a Immunity, in short, means no-liability
 DISABIþITIES

a The correlative of immunity is disability otherwise called

inability or no-power.
a Disability is the absence of power
a The principle µ   
  can be said to be
expressed as a disability on the part of persons to transfer
property that they themselves don¶t own
 SUMMARY

a 4 classes of rights conferred by law:

0 Rights in the strict sense: when law limits ability of others
in my behalf
0 þiberty: when law allows to my will a sphere of
unrestrained activity
0 Power: when law actively assists me in making my will
effective
0 Immunity: when law denies others a particular power over
me
 SUMMARY

a A right in the narrow sense is that which others 

to
do on my behalf
a A liberty is that which I  do innocently
a A power is that which I  do effectively
a An immunity is that which other persons  do
effectively in respect of me
 SUMMARY
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a Yertical arrows connect jural correlatives and may be read either

way as ³ is the presence of in another´. Thus,
liability is the presence of power in another.
a Diagonal arrows connect jural contradictories and may be read
either way as ³ is the absence of in oneself´.
Thus, disability is the absence of power in oneself.
a Horizontal arrows connect the contradictories of correlatives and
may be read either way as ³ is the absence of
in another´.Thus, immunity is the absence of power in another.