Legal Right & Duty

Student - VZY
Teacher Name - UTO
Subject - Jurisprudence
Due Date - November 2nd, 2009

“Inter-relationship of four principles shown in each square is not inter-relationship between two squares”

“Inter-relationship of four principles shown in each square is not inter-relationship between two squares.” Explain on your understood.

Rights are of two kinds; legal right and moral right. Legal rights depend upon the readiness of the State to use its force on a citizen’s behalf and moral rights depend on the readiness of the public to express its opinion. Therefore, legal rights and moral rights are different and they may be opposed to one another. However, legal rights are rights which exist clearly under the rules of legal systems.

There are two kinds of duties; legal duty and moral duty. Legal duty is an act recognized by law and it is enforced through the administration of justice. Legal duty is an act the opposite of which is a legal wrong. For example, the schools have duty to protect students from violence in school. Moral duty is not an act recognized by law. Sometimes, duty may be both legal and moral, such as stealing. Some duty may be only moral, such as helping people. Other times, legal duty and moral duty are opposed to one another.

According to Sir John Salmond, every legal right has five essential elements:
(1) There must be a person who is the owner of the right. He/She is the subject of the legal right. Sometimes she/he described as the person of inherence. The owner of a right doesn’t need to be a determinate or fixed person.
(2) A legal right accrues against other persons who are under a corresponding duty to respect that right. Such person is called the person of incidence or subject of the duty.
(3) Another essential element of a legal right is its content or substance. It may be an act which the subject of incidence is bound to do or it may be forbearance on his part.
(4) Another essential element is the object of the right. This is the thing over which the right is exercised. This may also be called the subject-matter of the right.
(5) Another essential element of a legal right is the title to the right. Facts must show the right vested in the owner of the right. That may be by purchase, gift, inheritance, assignment, prescription, ect.

For instance, “A” buys a car from “B.” The buyer (A) will be the person of inherence and the seller (B) and other persons are generally the persons of incidence. The car will be the subject-matter of the right. The contents of the right would lie in the fact that the seller and every other person should not disturb the peaceful possession and enjoyment of the car by the buyer. The sale of the car will be the title to the right in the fact.

Additionally, legal right can be analyzed into four parts; real right, liberty, power and immunity. Each of these events has a distinctive reasonable form and each incident can be a right by itself. Legal duty also can be analyzed into four parts; duty, no right, subjection and disability.

A real right is a perfect right, which requires that people have a legal duty to realize and affirm another’s right to freedom because a real right is recognized by law. Real right is available only against the whole world. According to Salmond, a real right is a negative right. A negative right also can be called the right of a first possessor. For instance, “A” has the right to own his property. No one can take “A’s” property wrongfully because “A’s” right is a real right and it is recognized by law. Additionally, other people have a legal duty to respect “A’s” right. According to this case, “A” is the owner of a right and other people are called the subjects of the duty. Real rights define the relationship between the owner of right and the subject of the duty.

Liberty is freedom. An individual is free in any manner to act without boundaries to limit human actions. Liberty isn’t recognized by law. Therefore, everyone has the right to do many things which are not bound by law. For example, “A” will not be violating any duty if “A” picks up a coin on the side of the road where “A” finds them because A has no duty to not pick up a coin. If she or he has a legal duty to do something, he or she has no liberty. For example, students have a legal duty to follow the school’s rule. In this case, students have no liberty. Liberty has no subject of the duty because liberty is related to a particular individual only.

Power is the authority to perform an act and an ability to generate a change in a particular legal relationship by doing or not doing a certain act. A person who has a legal duty to respect another person’s power has subjection. Power is one of the legal rights and all power is given by law. Every one has a legal duty to respect the order or decide when persons have the power by law to do something. This legal duty to respect the order is subjection. For instance, judges have power to decide every case and no one can say that he/she doesn’t like this decision. Everyone is a subject of their power. Additionally, everyone has the power if he/she has the ability to manipulate her/his object. It also can be called a personal right. For example, “A” has the power to make a will if she/he is Christian. Every one has the power to make a contract between two persons.

Legal immunity is a type of legal protection which is offered to certain people in particular circumstances. Essentially, when someone has legal immunity, other persons cannot prosecute because other persons have a disability. For instance, judges have legal immunity by law so no one can prosecute the judges. The most well known example of legal immunity is probably prosecutorial immunity, which is sometimes offered to a witness in exchange for his or her testimony in a case. In return for testifying, the prosecution agrees not to pursue the witness for crimes which he or she discusses in the testimony. This type of legal immunity is often used in conspiracy cases where prosecutors are willing to let minor criminals go if it means that they can bring down ringleaders.

The four parts of legal rights are not inter-relationship. Real rights are part of the relationship between two people, but liberty is the freedom of one individual. Power is an ability to act, given by law, but immunity is a freedom from prosecution given only in special circumstances. In conclusion, according to four legal rights, a real right is the most important of all rights and other rights are accessory rights.