Phil 160
Rights (continued)
Categories of Rights
• Who is alleged to have the right: Children's rights, animal rights,
workers' rights, states' rights, the rights of peoples.
• What actions or states or objects the asserted right pertains to:
Rights of free expression, to pass judgment; rights of privacy, to
remain silent; property rights, bodily rights.
• Why the rightholder (allegedly) has the right: Moral rights are
grounded in moral reasons, legal rights derive from the laws of
the society, customary rights exist by local convention.
• How the asserted right can be affected by the rightholder's
actions: The inalienable right to life, the forfeitable right to
liberty, and the waivable right that a promise be kept.
– Leif Wenar, “Rights” SEP Entry
Hohfeld’s analysis:
• Wesley Hofeld, an American legal scholar,
divided different sorts of rights into four
elements:
– Priviledges
– Claims
– Powers
– Immunities
Privileges:
• A has a privilege to φ if and only if A has no
duty not to φ
• Licenses (to drive, to kill, etc.) or other legally
conferred privileges (the right to practice law,
medicine, etc.) are examples of this kind of
right.
• Also, the right to sit in any seat at all in a
theater, the right to pick up a coin off of the
sidewalk, etc.
Claims:
• A has a claim that B φ if and only if B has a
duty to A to φ
• Parties to contracts each have a claim on one
another, and so each party also has a duty to
the other.
• Since we have duties not to hurt people,
people have rights not to be hurt.
• Property rights are another good example of
claim-rights
Powers:
• A has a power if and only if A has the ability
within a set of rules to alter her own or
another's rights
• Military commanders for example have
powers to eliminate or change priviledges,
and in some cases, claim rights, and even
powers.
Immunities:
• B has an immunity if and only if A lacks the
ability within a set of rules to alter B's rights
• The rights of US citizens offer many
immunities against the government’s powers.
Freedom of religious expression, no ex post
facto laws, right to due process, etc.
Opposites and correlatives:
Opposites
If A has a
Claim,
then A lacks a
No-claim.
…
Privilege,
…
Duty.
…
Power,
…
Disability.
…
Immunity,
…
Liability.
Correlatives
If A has a
Claim,
then some person B
Duty.
has a
…
Privilege,
…
No-claim.
…
Power,
…
Liability.
…
Immunity,
…
Disability.