Nature of Legal Rights and Duties

Authors

Joseph W. Bingham, Leland Stanford Jr University

Abstract

One cannot long talk on a legal topic without using the words right and duty or some synonyms. It is familiar hearsay that a purpose of law is to create, delimit, and protect rights and to define and enforce duties. Therefore it is of importance to inquire what is meant by "a right" and by "a duty" when we use these terms in legal discussion. The question is a linguistic one; but in the process of finding the proper answer, we shall have to analyze some of our common sorts of mental concepts and perhaps shall finish with a clear comprehension of the purport of parts of our legal reasoning which ordinarily we veil by convenient and familiar words from careful scrutiny and any but the vaguest apprehension. I do not purpose to express the details of such an analysis in these pages. I desire only to explain the results of my thinking which may be verified or disproved by my readers through their own mental tests.

Recommended Citation

Joseph W. Bingham, Nature of Legal Rights and Duties, 12 Mich. L. Rev. 1 (1913).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol12/iss1/2