Law and You> Jurisprudence > Introduction to Legal Rights

The noun right has different meanings resulting in the ambiguity of its exact meaning. In jurisprudence, we find a bitter discussion and disputes about the exact meaning of the term “Right”. In general, we discover a particular action is right by checking whether it is consonant with the general legal, social, and ethical principles. In the religious context, the action to be right should be consonant with moral principles as guided by religion. In this article, we shall study the concept of “Legal Rights”.

Legal Rights:

Legal rights are the common claims of people which every cultured society recognizes as essential claims for their development, and which are therefore enforced by the state. Learned authors of Jurisprudence have defined the term in different ways.

• According to Salmond “A right is an interest recognized and protected by a rule of law.”
• According to Austin right is a “Faculty which resides in a determinate party or parties by virtue of a given law and which avails against a party or parties. Or answer to duty lying on party or parties, other than the party or parties in whom resides”.
• According to Holland “Legal right is the capacity residing in one man of controlling, with the assent and assistance of the state, actions of others”.
• According to Laski, “Right is those conditions of social life without which no man can seek in general, to be himself at his best.”
• T. H. Green explained that “Right  is a power necessary for the fulfillment of man’s vocation as a moral being.”
• Beni Prasad stated that “Rights are nothing more nor less than those social conditions which are necessary or favourable to the development of personality”
• According to Pollock ”right is freedom allowed and power conferred by law”.
• According to Holmes ” a legal right is nothing but a permission to exercise certain natural powers and upon certain conditions to obtain protection, restitution, or compensation by the aid of public force.”
• According to Buckland “A legal right is an interest or expectation guaranteed by law.”
• According to Kant“ right is an authority to compel”.
• Note: According to Prof.Duguit and Kelson, there is no such concept called legal right.

In the State of Rajasthan V. Union of India, AIR 1977 SC 1361 case, the Apex Court observed: “In a strict sense, legal rights are correlative of legal duties and are defined as interests which the law protects by imposing corresponding duties on others. But in a generic sense, the word right is used to mean immunity from the legal power of another, immunity is an exemption from the power of another in the same way as liberty is an exemption from the right of another. Immunity, in short, is no subjection”.

Features of Legal Rights:

• Legal rights exist only in society. These are the products of social living. They cannot be exercised against the society. They are to be exercised by the people for their development and hence for the development of society.
• They are claims of the individuals for their development in society. They are recognized by society as common claims of all the people.
• They are rational and moral claims that people make in their society.
• They are equally available to all the people.
• The concept and contents of rights keep on changing with the passage of time.
• They are not absolute. These always bear limitations deemed essential for maintaining public health, security, order, and morality.
• They should be utilized with some duties.
• They need enforcement and only then these can be really used by the people. It is the duty of a state to protect the rights of the people.

Essentials of Legal Rights (In Stricter Sense):

According to Salmond, every legal right has five Essential elements which are as follows:

1. The person of inheritance: He is the first essential of the legal right. It is vested in a person who may be distinguished as the owner of the rights, the subject of it, the person entitled, or the person of inheritance. The owner of a right need not be a determinant or fixed person. If an individual owes a duty towards society at large, then an indeterminate body is the subject of inheritance. Example -If ‘X’ purchased a car for Rs. 10 lakh from ‘Y’, then ‘X’ is called the subject of the right. The person of inheritance may be a particular person (owner of plot) or an unascertained person (bequest to an unborn person) or an indeterminate body (Municipal bodies has to perform certain duties, which create certain rights in favour of society or community as a whole).
2. The person of incidence / Subject of the Duty: A legal right occurs against another person or persons who are under a corresponding duty to respect that right. Such a person is called the person of incidence or the subject of the duty. He is the person bound. If X has a particular right against Y, X is the person of inheritance and Y the subject of incidence. Example: If ‘X’ purchased a car for Rs. 10 lakh from ‘Y’, then ‘Y’ is called the subject of the duty. Rights and duties are two sides of the same coin. Every legal right implies a corresponding duty.
3. Subject matter or Contents of legal rights: It obliges the person bound to an act or omission in favour of person entitled. Thus there must be obligation to do or not to do something. This may be termed the subject-matter of the right. It deals with the subject matter of legal rights. Example: If ‘X’ purchased a car for Rs. 10 lakh from ‘Y’, then ‘X’ is has the right to enjoy peacefully the use of the car without any disturbance and this right can be inherited to his heirs after his death. Thus the right to enjoy the use of car is the subject matter of the legal right.
4. The object of legal rights: The act or omission relates to something which may be termed as the object or subject matter of the right.  Thus the thing or an object over which the right is exercised is called ‘Object of Right’. Example: If ‘X’ purchased a car for Rs. 10 lakh from ‘Y’, then the car is the object of the right. The object may be tangible (Right to property) or intangible (Right to reputation).
5. Title: A title is nothing but the name given to the legal right. The title is a process, by which the right is vested/conferred. Purchase, gift, etc confer a title on a person. Every legal right has title, that is to say, certain facts or events by reason of which the right has become vested in its owner. Title is the de facto antecedent of which the right is de jure consequence. Title signifies the source of legal right. Example: If ‘X’ purchased a car for Rs. 10 lakh from ‘Y’, then the car is the object of the right. Thus the Title of ownership and possession is transferred from ‘Y’ to ‘X’. Title can be acquired by following modes: Citizenship (which bestows fundamental and constitutional rights), Purchase, Inheritance, Gift, Mortgage, Trove, Capturing, etc.

From the above essentials of legal rights, we can conclude that every right involves a relationship between two or more legal persons, and only legal persons can be bound by duties or be the holders of legal rights. Similarly, rights and duties are correlated. We cannot have a right without a corresponding duty or a duty without corresponding right.

Kinds of Rights on the Basis of Objects:

• Right over Material Thing: It is a right to own house, furniture, car, land, antiques, etc.
• Right over Intangible Property: It is a right to own patents, copyrights, goodwill, trademarks, etc.
• Right of a Person: It is a right of not to be assaulted or right not to be falsely imprisoned. Right not to be coerced or decieved.
• Right to Have Domestic Relations: It is a right to get married, parental rights, Master’s right over the servant.
• Right to Have a Reputation: It is the right not to be defamed.
• Right to Respect Rights of Other: If one individual has some rights, then another individual is also empowered with the same right.

For More Articles on Jurisprudence Click Here

For More Articles on Different Acts, Click Here