Legal rights and duties are correlative concepts; a right in one person implies a corresponding duty or obligation in another.
1. Salmond's Five Elements of a Legal Right
- Subject (Person of Inherence): The owner or holder of the right.
- Object: The subject matter (property, act, or service) over which the right is exercised.
- Content: The positive act or negative omission required from the obligated party.
- Obligated Person (Person of Incidence): The person who bears the corresponding duty.
- Title: The facts or events that created the right (e.g., a contract, sale, or gift).
2. Theories of Legal Rights
- Will Theory (Austin, Holland): The essence of a right is spousal choice and control. A right gives the holder's will power over another's duty.
- Interest Theory (Ihering, Salmond): The essence of a right is a legally protected interest, even if the holder lacks a conscious will (e.g., infants, insane persons, or animals).
3. Wesley Hohfeld's Table of Jural Relations
Hohfeld clarified the term "right" by dividing it into four pairs of Jural Correlatives (where one implies the other in another person) and Jural Opposites (where one excludes the other in the same person):
| Jural Correlatives (Vertical Pairs) | Jural Opposites (Diagonal Pairs) |
|---|---|
| Right ↔ Duty (Right implies Duty) | Right vs. No-Right (Right excludes No-Right) |
| Privilege ↔ No-Right (Privilege implies No-Right) | Privilege vs. Duty (Privilege excludes Duty) |
| Power ↔ Liability (Power implies Liability) | Power vs. Disability (Power excludes Disability) |
| Immunity ↔ Disability (Immunity implies Disability) | Immunity vs. Liability (Immunity excludes Liability) |