THE HOHFELDIAN MATRIX

MADE BY:ABIR CHATTARAJANKUSH VERMA

DEFINITION OF RIGHT

Right is an interest recognized, saved and enforced by law. A man has several rights that may be over tangible/intangible objects.

Rights in respect of a person include right not to be physically assaulted or injured, right to reputation, rights in respect of domestic relations and rights in respect of other rights e.g. contractual rights.

Rights over intangible objects include patent-rights, copyrights, trademarks and commercial goodwill.

There may be other rights of a contractual nature such as those rendered for service e.g. master and servant, doctor and patient.

LEGAL RIGHTS IN A WIDER SENSE

A right may also be defined as an advantage or benefit conferred upon a person by a rule of law.

They are of 4 types:Rights (in the strict sense) LibertiesPowers ImmunitiesEach of these has a correlative namely:DutiesNo-RightsLiabilitiesDisabilities

LEGAL RIGHTS IN A WIDER SENSE

POWER IMMUNITY

LIABILITY DISABILITY

RIGHTS LIBERTY (Stricto (No duty) sensu)

DUTY NO-RIGHT

(No Liability)

RIGHTS AND LIBERTIESEach and every right has a corresponding dutyDuty may be defined as an internal feeling of an

obligation towards someoneRights and duties are like ‘2 sides of a coin’Legal rights (in the strict sense) are the benefits which are

derived from legal duties imposed upon other personsLiberty may be defined as an activity that is carried out

without being prevented by the lawThe sphere of legal liberty is that sphere within which the

law is content to leave the person alone

LIBERTIES

Liberty does not mean interference with another e.g. liberty to express opinion on public affairs but no right to publish defamatory/libel statement

Similarly, one has the liberty to self-defense against violence but not to engage in revenge upon someone who has caused the injury

Liberty is defined as unrestrained activity allowed by lawThe difference between rights in strict sense and liberty is

that those things which other persons ought to do for me are classified as rights in strict sense and what things I may do for myself are classified as liberty

LIBERTIES CONTD.

Legal liberty is a legal right not to be interfered with by other persons in the exercise of one’s activities i.e. other persons are under a legal duty not to prevent me from expressing opinions

There exist liberties which are not accompanied by protecting rights e.g. if a landowner gives license to go on his land, I have a right in the sense of liberty to go on his land, he has an equal right or liberty to stop me. The license has no other effect than to make that lawful which would otherwise be unlawful.

An alien has a liberty to enter a country but the executive government has an equal right in the same sense to keep him out

NO-RIGHTS

No-right is a manufactured word indicating absence of a right against another in some particular respect

B has no-right against A means that B does not have a right against A

A’s liberty to do a thing means that B does not have a right that it shall not be done e.g. A trespasser has a no-right not to be forcibly ejected corresponding to the occupier’s liberty to eject him.

All cases of Damnum Sine Injuria are cases of no-right

NO-RIGHTS CONTD.

No-right is a negative concept. An alien has a liberty to enter a country means he is under no duty not to enter and similarly, authorities have no-right against him means they have no right in the strict sense though they may have liberty (no duty not) to prevent him.

POWER IMMUNITY

LIABILITY DISABILITY

LEGAL RIGHTS IN A WIDER SENSE

(No Liability)

POWERS

Powers form another class of legal rights e.g. right to make a will, alienate property, power of sale vested in a mortgagee, landlord’s right of re-entry, right to marry one’s deceased wife’s sister, the power to sue and prosecute, right to rescind a contract for fraud, power of appointment, right of issuing execution on a judgement, and various powers vested in judges and other officials for fulfillment of functions

Powers are legally recognized interests i.e. advantages conferred by law. They are defined as the ability to alter, by own will directed to that end, the rights, duties, liabilities and other legal relations either of himself or other persons

POWERS DIFFERENTIATED FROM RIGHTS

Resemble liberties and differ from rights in the strict sense as they have no corresponding duties to them e.g. right to make a will corresponds to no duty in any one else

Similarly, a mortgagee’s power of sale is not correlative of duty imposed upon the mortgagor. A debt is not the same thing as a right of action for recovery. The former is a right in the strict and proper sense and the latter is a power that corresponds to the liability of the debtor to be sued

Power is not identical to liberty. The right to make a will does not mean that I do no wrong. It does not mean that I may make a will innocently, it means that I can make a will can be made effectively

Similarly, if a right to marry my cousin exists, it does not mean such a marriage is legally innocent, but that it is legally valid

A landlord’s right to re-entry does not mean he does the tenant no wrong but by doing so, he can effectively terminate the lease

POWERS DIFFERENTIATED FROM LIBERTIES

Powers can be either private or public. Former are those which are vested in a person as an agent or instrument of the functions of the state such as legislative, judicial and executive powers.

The latter refers to powers vested in persons to be exercised for their own purposes

Authority is defined as the power over other persons and capacity is the power over oneself

TYPES OF POWERS

Correlative of power is liability that denotes the presence of power in one as opposed to the person with the liability. It may also be defined as the one whose legal rights in the wide sense can be altered by the exercise of power

Examples include liability of a tenant to have his lease determined by re-entry, that of a mortgagor to have property sold by the mortgagee, that of a judgement debtor to have execution issued against him and that of an unfaithful spouse to be divorced

LIABILITIES

Liability is independent of the question of the outcome of a particular action/prosecution and is thus, independent the duty to pay damages for a civil wrong

For instance, a tortfeasor is under a duty to pay damages and is liable to be sued in tort (“tortious liability”) but a person who has not committed any tort is also liable to be sued, though the action will fail in this case

Liability can be held to be co-incident of no-right – goods seized for non-payment of rent states that a tenant has no-right against the landlord not to have his goods touched and a liability to have them impounded and sold against his will

Liability may be beneficial e.g. a person exercising power by making a gift of his property results in others having a liability to receive it.

LIABILITIES

Right may also mean an immunity against a legal power.Immunity means an exemption from having a given legal

relation changed by another.An example is the right of a peer to be tried by his peers –

this would be classified as an exemption from trial by a jury.

Immunity stands in the same relation to power as liberty does to right in strict sense

Immunity, in short, means no-liability

IMMUNITIES

The correlative of immunity is disability otherwise called inability or no-power.

Disability is the absence of powerThe principle ‘Nemo dat quod non habet’ can be said to

be expressed as a disability on the part of persons to transfer property that they themselves don’t own

DISABILITIES

4 classes of rights conferred by law:Rights in the strict sense: when law limits ability of others

in my behalfLiberty: when law allows to my will a sphere of

unrestrained activityPower: when law actively assists me in making my will

effectiveImmunity: when law denies others a particular power over

me

SUMMARY

A right in the narrow sense is that which others ought to do on my behalf

A liberty is that which I may do innocentlyA power is that which I can do effectivelyAn immunity is that which other persons cannot do

effectively in respect of me

SUMMARY

Vertical arrows connect jural correlatives and may be read either way as “ is the presence of in another”. Thus, liability is the presence of power in another.

Diagonal arrows connect jural contradictories and may be read either way as “ is the absence of in oneself”. Thus, disability is the absence of power in oneself.

Horizontal arrows connect the contradictories of correlatives and may be read either way as “ is the absence of

in another”.Thus, immunity is the absence of power in another.

SUMMARY POWER IMMUNITY (No Liability)

LIABILITY DISABILITY