RIGHT, Black's Law Dictionary (11th ed.

2019)

Black's Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019), right

RIGHT

Bryan A. Garner, Editor in Chief

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right n. (bef. 12c) 1. That which is proper under law, morality, or ethics <know right from wrong>. Cf. WRONG.

“Right and wrong, in the legal sense, are that which the law of the State allows and forbids, and nothing
else. To understand this is one of the first conditions of clear legal and political thinking, and it is Hobbes's
great merit to have made this clear beyond the possibility of misunderstanding. No one who has grasped
Hobbes's definition can ever be misled by verbal conceits about laws of the State which are contrary to
natural right, or the law of nature, not being binding. All such language is mischievous, as confusing the
moral and political grounds of positive law with its actual force. In practice we all know that the officers
of the State cannot entertain complaints that the laws enacted by the supreme power in the State are in the
complainant's opinion unjust. It would be impossible for government to be carried on if they did. Laws
have to be obeyed, as between the State and the subject, not because they are reasonable, but because the
State has so commanded. The laws may be, and in a wisely ordered State will be, the result of the fullest
discussion which the nature of the case admits, and subsequent criticism may be allowed or even invited.
But while the laws exist they have to be obeyed.” Frederick Pollock, An Introduction to the History of the
Science of Politics 61 (1906).

“It has come to be well understood that there is no more ambiguous word in legal and juristic literature than
the word ‘right.’ In its most general sense it means a reasonable expectation involved in life in civilized
society. As a noun it has been used in the law books in [four] senses. (1) One meaning is interest, as in
most discussions of natural rights. Here it may mean (a) an interest one holds ought to be recognize and
secured. It is generally used in this sense in treatises on ethics. Or (b) it may mean the interest recognized,
delimited with regard to other recognized interests and secured. (2) A second meaning is a recognized claim
to acts or forbearances by another or by all others in order to make the interest effective, (a) legally, through
application of the force of a politically organized society in order to secure it as the law has delimited
it, or (b) morally, by the pressure of the moral sentiment of the community or of extra-legal agencies of
social control. Analytical jurists have put this as a capacity of influencing others which is recognized or
conferred in order to secure an interest. (3) A third use is to designate a capacity of creating, divesting, or
altering rights in the second sense and so of creating or altering duties. Here the proper term is ‘power.’ (4)
A fourth use is to designate certain conditions of general or special non-interference with natural faculties
of action; certain conditions on which the law secures interests by leaving one to the free exercise of his
natural faculties. These are better called liberties and privileges — liberties, general conditions of hands
off as to certain situations; privileges, special conditions of hands off exempting certain persons or persons
under certain situations from the rules which apply to persons generally or apply to all persons in ordinary
situations.” Roscoe Pound, The Ideal Element in Law 110–12 (1958) (mentioning five but reciting only
four noun senses).

2. Something that is due to a person by just claim, legal guarantee, or moral principle <the right of liberty>. 3. A power,
privilege, or immunity secured to a person by law <the right to dispose of one's estate>. 4. A legally enforceable claim that
another will do or will not do a given act; a recognized and protected interest the violation of which is a wrong <a breach of
duty that infringes one's right>. 5. (often pl.)The interest, claim, or ownership that one has in tangible or intangible property <a

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RIGHT, Black's Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019)

debtor's rights in collateral> <publishing rights>. 6. The privilege of corporate shareholders to purchase newly issued securities
in amounts proportionate to their holdings. 7. The negotiable certificate granting such a privilege to a corporate shareholder.

“Right is a correlative to duty; where there is no duty there can be no right. But the converse is not necessarily
true. There may be duties without rights. In order for a duty to create a right, it must be a duty to act or
forbear. Thus, among those duties which have rights corresponding to them do not come the duties, if such
there be, which call for an inward state of mind, as distinguished from external acts or forbearances. It is
only to acts and forbearances that others have a right. It may be our duty to love our neighbor, but he has
no right to our love.” John Chipman Gray, The Nature and Sources of the Law 8–9 (2d ed. 1921).

“[T]he word ‘right’ is one of the most deceptive of pitfalls; it is so easy to slip from a qualified meaning
in the premise to an unqualified one in the conclusion. Most rights are qualified.” American Bank & Trust
Co. v. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, 256 U.S. 350, 358, 41 S.Ct. 499, 500 (1921).

“[I]n most European languages the term for law is identical with the term for right. The Latin jus, the
German Recht, the Italian diritto, the Spanish derecho, the Slavonic pravo point both to the legal rule which
binds a person and the legal right which every person claims as his own. Such coincidences cannot be
treated as mere chance, or as a perversion of language likely to obscure the real meaning of words. On the
contrary, they point to a profound connexion between the two ideas implied, and it is not difficult to see
why expressions like jus and Recht face both ways: it may be said that on the one hand all private rights are
derived from legal order, while, on the other hand, legal order is in a sense the aggregate of all the rights
co-ordinated by it. We can hardly define a right better than by saying that it is the range of action assigned
to a particular will within the social order established by law.” Paul Vinogradoff, Common Sense in Law
45 (H.G. Hanbury ed., 2d ed. 1946).

“[In Hohfeldian terminology,] A is said to have a right that B shall do an act when, if B does not do the act,
A can initiate legal proceedings that will result in coercing B. In such a situation B is said to have a duty to
do the act. Right and duty are therefore correlatives, since in this sense there can never be a duty without a
right.” E. Allan Farnsworth, Contracts § 3.4, at 114. n.3 (3d ed. 1999).

- absolute right. (16c) 1. A right that belongs to every human being, such as the right of personal liberty; a natural right. —
Also termed individual right. See FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT (1). 2. An unqualified right; specif., a right that cannot be denied or
curtailed except under specific conditions <freedom of thought is an absolute right>. • For example, a plaintiff has an absolute
right to voluntarily nonsuit a case before it is finally submitted; after final submission, the court has discretion to grant or deny
a voluntary nonsuit. Cf. relative right.
- accessory right. (1807) A supplementary right that has been added to the main right that is vested in the same owner. • For
example, the right in a security is accessory to the right that is secured; a servitude is accessory to the ownership of the land
for whose benefit the servitude exists. Cf. principal right.
- accrued right. (1842) A matured right; a right that is ripe for enforcement (as through litigation).
- acquired right. (17c) A right that a person does not naturally enjoy, but that is instead procured, such as the right to own
property.
- background right. See implied right.
- civil right. See CIVIL RIGHT.
- communication right. (1939) Copyright. The power of a copyright owner to authorize or prohibit the transmission of a work
to the public by means of interactive on-demand systems such as the Internet. • This right is included in the WIPO Copyright
Treaty and the European Commission's Directive on the Information Society.

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RIGHT, Black's Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019)

- conditional right. (17c) A right that depends on an uncertain event; a right that may or may not exist. • For example, parents
have the conditional right to punish their child, the condition being that the punishment must be reasonable.
- conjugal rights. See CONJUGAL RIGHTS.
- constitutional right. See CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT.
- contingent right. (18c) An entitlement that depends on the occurrence of some specified event — examples being an executory
interest, a possibility coupled with an interest, and a right of entry.
- contingent-value right. (1990) An entitlement granted to the shareholders of an acquired company (or of a company
undergoing major restructuring) whereby the shareholders are to receive an additional benefit if a specified event occurs. —
Abbr. CVR.
- contract right. (1851) A right to payment under a contract not yet earned by performance and not evidenced by an instrument
or chattel paper.
- contractual right. (1868) An entitlement arising out of a legally enforceable agreement, whether express, implied, or imposed
by law or equity.
- conversion right. (1909) A right or option granted by a corporation to a shareholder or other security holder to convert a
security into another type of security of the corporation. • A conversion right usu. enables holders of preferred stock and debt
holders to convert the securities or debt into common stock.
- derogable right. (1986) A right than can be limited or reduced in some circumstances.
- economic right. See ECONOMIC RIGHT.
- enumerated right. (1852) An express right embodied in writing, as in statutes and caselaw.
- equitable right. (17c) A right cognizable within a court of equity. • If a legal right and an equitable right conflict, the legal
right ordinarily prevails over and destroys the equitable right even if the legal right arose after the equitable right. Breaches of
equitable rights are remedied by means other than monetary damages, such as an injunction or specific performance. With the
merger of law and equity in federal and most state courts, the procedural differences between legal and equitable rights have
been largely abolished. Cf. legal right (1), (2).
- exclusive right. (17c) A right vested in one person, entity, or body to do something or be protected from something.
- expectant right. (1821) A right that is contingent on the occurrence of some future event; a contingent right.
- first-generation rights. (1981) The fundamental political rights of a people.
- fundamental constitutional right. See CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT.
- fundamental right. See FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT.
- group right. (usu. pl.)(1900) A right possessed by a group as an entity rather than severally by the members; in a divided
society, a distinctive power, privilege, or immunity secured to the collective people of a certain ethnicity, esp. as a matter of
asserted public policy.

“Group rights are part of the grammar of contemporary constitutional politics. In divided societies, in which
ethnicity serves as the principal basis of political mobilization, ethnic groups — especially ethnic minorities
— assert a range of group rights directly, or as the underlying root of a range of public policies. It is claimed
that there are group rights to separate educational and social institutions, to federal subunits in which ethnic
groups exclusively wield or dominate the exercise of political power, and to land and resources. Group
rights are the basis for rules on internal migration and land ownership, for distinct systems of religious
personal law, for official multilingualism, for executive power-sharing, and for a share of natural resource
revenues. Moreover, the assertion of group rights is not just a political claim; it is also a legal claim directed
at the very design of the constitutional order and its subsequent interpretation. Group rights serve two
constitutional functions. They are shields and swords against majority rule, which protect ethnic minorities
from being outvoted on policies that affect the interests that those rights protect. But equally importantly,
the entrenchment of group rights reflects and projects a conception of the very nature of the constitutional
order itself, in which the group which holds rights is constitutionally identified as a constituent element.
Citizenship in the broader political community is mediated through membership in the group. Thus, group
rights have both regulative and constitutive functions.” Sujit Choudhry, “Group Rights in Comparative

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RIGHT, Black's Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019)

Constitutional Law: Culture, Economics, or Political Power?” in The Oxford Handbook of Comparative
Constitutional Law 1099, 1100 (Michel Rosenfeld & András Sajó eds., 2012).

- immediate right. (17c) A right that may be exercised without delay.

- imperfect right. (17c) A right that is recognized by the law but is not enforceable. • Examples include time-barred claims
and claims exceeding the local limits of a court's jurisdiction.

“[T]here are certain rights, sometimes called imperfect rights, which the law recognizes but will not enforce
directly. Thus a statute-barred debt cannot be recovered in a court of law, but for certain purposes the
existence of the debt has legal significance. If the debtor pays the money, he cannot later sue to recover
it as money paid without consideration; and the imperfect right has the faculty of becoming perfect if the
debtor makes an acknowledgment of the debt from which there can be inferred a promise to pay.” George
Whitecross Paton, A Textbook of Jurisprudence 286 (G.W. Paton & David P. Derham eds., 4th ed. 1972).

- implied right. (18c) A right inferred from another legal right that is expressly stated in a statute or at common law. — Also
termed unenumerated right; penumbral right; background right.
- imprescriptible right. (18c) A right that cannot be lost to prescription. See PRESCRIPTION (4).
- inalienable right. (17c) A right that cannot be transferred or surrendered; esp., a natural right such as the right to own property.
— Also termed inherent right.
- inchoate right. See INCHOATE RIGHT.
- incorporated right. (usu. pl.)(1844) 1. A right that is stated to be part of the text of a legal document, esp. a constitution. 2.
A right that exists only when attached to something else, such as a servitude in a deed.
- incorporeal right. (17c) A right to intangible, rather than tangible, property. • A right to a legal action (a chose in action) is
an incorporeal right. See chose in action under CHOSE.
- indigenous rights. (1965) The human rights of an original, autochthonous people who dwelled in a land before outsiders
invaded and colonized it.
- individual right. 1. See absolute right. 2. See personal right (1).
- inherent right. See inalienable right.
- legal right. (17c) 1. A right created or recognized by law. • The breach of a legal right is usu. remediable by monetary
damages. 2. A right historically recognized by common-law courts. Cf. equitable right. 3. The capacity of asserting a legally
recognized claim against one with a correlative duty to act.
- minority right. (usu. pl.)(1905) 1. Collectively, the fundamental individual rights historically not guaranteed to a person who
is of a particular minority race, class, ethnicity, religion, linguistic group, or sexual orientation. 2. The collective rights of such
people. — Also termed rights of minorities.
- moral right. See MORAL RIGHT.
- natural right. (17c) A right that is conceived as part of natural law and that is therefore thought to exist independently of
rights created by government or society, such as the right to life, liberty, and property. See NATURAL LAW.

“‘Natural right’ is the creature of ‘natural law’: it is a metaphor which takes its origin in another metaphor.
It is certain expedients or faculties which are natural to men; but to call them ‘natural rights’ is again to
put language in conflict with itself, for ‘rights’ are established to assure the free exercise of expedients
or faculties. The right is the guarantee, the faculty is the thing guaranteed. How can we make ourselves
understood in a tongue which confounds, under the same terms, things so distinct? What would become
of the nomenclature of arts if we were to give to the craft whereby a piece of work is produced the same
name as is given to the article manufactured? [Yet we do that: think of painting or needlepoint. — Ed.]

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‘Real rights’ is a phrase that imports some legal signification, while ‘natural rights is a phrase often used
in a sense which is, so to speak, anti-legal. When, for example, we say that ‘the law cannot contravene
natural rights,’ the word ‘rights’ is used in a sense above the law; for we imply that there may be rights
which assail, overthrow, or even annul, the law. In this anti-legal sense, the word is a deadly foe alike to
good government and good sense. There is no reasoning with fanatics, armed with ‘natural rights’ which
every man interprets as he pleases and applies as he thinks fit. These ‘rights’ are, it seems, as inflexible as
they are unintelligible.” 1 Jeremy Bentham, Bentham's Theory of Legislation 110–11 (Étienne Dumont ed.,
Charles Milner Atkinson trans., 1914).

- negative right. (17c) A right entitling a person to have another refrain from doing an act that might harm the person entitled.
Cf. positive right.
- nonderogable right. (1981) A legal right that must be fully honored.
- patent right. (18c) A right secured by a patent.
- penumbral right. See implied right.
- perfect right. (16c) A right that is recognized by the law and is fully enforceable.

“Perfect rights are those which may be asserted in rigour, even by employing force to obtain the execution,
or to secure the exercise thereof in opposition to all those who should attempt to resist or disturb us. Thus
reason would empower us to use force against anyone who would make an unjust attack on our lives, our
goods, or our liberty.” 1 Jean-Jacques Burlamaqui, The Principles of Natural and Politic Law 52 (1748;
Thomas Nugent trans., 1823).

- peripheral right. (1962) A right that surrounds or springs from another right.
- personal right. (16c) 1. A right that forms part of a person's legal status or personal condition, as opposed to the person's
estate. — Also termed individual right. 2. See right in personam.
- political right. (16c) The right to participate in the establishment or administration of government, such as the right to vote
or the right to hold public office. — Also termed political liberty.
- positive right. (17c) A right entitling a person to have another do some act for the benefit of the person entitled. Cf. negative
right.
- precarious right. (17c) A right enjoyed at the pleasure of another; a right that can be revoked at any time.
- present fixed right of future enjoyment. See vested remainder under REMAINDER.
- primary right. (17c) A right prescribed by the substantive law, such as a right not to be defamed or assaulted. • The enforcement
of a primary right is termed specific enforcement.
- principal right. (17c) A right to which has been added a supplementary right in the same owner. Cf. accessory right.
- private right. (16c) A personal right, as opposed to a right of the public or the state. Cf. public right.
- procedural right. (1911) A right that derives from legal or administrative procedure; a right that helps in the protection or
enforcement of a substantive right. Cf. substantive right.
- property right. (1853) A right to specific property, whether tangible or intangible.
- proprietary right. (17c) A right that is part of a person's estate, assets, or property, as opposed to a right arising from the
person's legal status.
- public right. (16c) A right belonging to all citizens and usu. vested in and exercised by a public office or political entity.
Cf. private right.
- quasi-property right. (1936) 1. A property-related interest that functionally resembles a property interest but is not a true
ownership right. • Types of quasi-property rights include liens, beneficial interests, and an owner's right to any improvements
made to real property. 2. The right of next of kin to immediate possession of a decedent's body for disposition. — Also termed
(in sense 2) right of sepulcher.

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RIGHT, Black's Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019)

- real right. (17c) 1. Civil law. A right that is connected with a thing rather than a person. • Real rights include ownership, use,
habitation, usufruct, predial servitude, pledge, and real mortgage.

“The term ‘real rights’ (jura in re) is an abstraction unknown to classical Roman law. The classical jurists
were preoccupied with the availability of remedies rather than the existence of substantive rights, and did
not have a generic term to include all ‘rights’ which civilian scholars of following generations classified
as ‘real.’ The expression (‘real rights’) was first coined by medieval writers elaborating on the Digest in
an effort to explain ancient procedural forms of action in terms of substantive rights.” A.N. Yiannopoulos,
Real Rights in Louisiana and Comparative Law, 23 La. L. Rev. 161, 163 (1963).

2. JUS IN RE. 3. See right in rem.

- relative right. (17c) A right that arises from and depends on someone else's right, as distinguished from an absolute right.
Cf. absolute right.
- remedial right. (18c) The secondary right to have a remedy that arises when a primary right is broken. — Also termed right
of remedy. See secondary right.

“Remedies, in their widest sense, are either the final means by which to maintain and defend primary rights
and enforce primary duties, or they are the final equivalents given to an injured person in the place of his
original primary rights which have been broken, and of the original primary duties towards him which have
been unperformed. Remedial rights, or rights of remedy, are rights which an injured person has to avail
himself of some one or more of these final means, or to obtain some one or more of these final equivalents.”
John Norton Pomeroy, Code Remedies: Remedies and Remedial Rights by the Civil Action § 2, at 2 (Thomas
A. Bogle ed., 4th ed. 1904).

- restitutory right. (1982) A right to restitution.

- right in action. See chose in action under CHOSE.
- right in personam (in pər-soh-nəm) (1832) An interest protected solely against specific individuals. — Also termed personal
right; jus in personam. See IN PERSONAM.
- right in rem (in rem) (18c) A right, often negative, exercisable against the world at large. — Also termed real right; jus
in rem. See IN REM.

“A right in rem need not relate to a tangible res. Thus a right that one's reputation should not be unjustifiably
attacked is today described as a right in rem, since it is a right that avails against persons generally. This
shows how far the conception has developed from the Roman notion of actio in rem, for one who sues to
protect his reputation is not asking for judgment for a specific res. It should also be noticed that on breach
of a right in rem, a right in personam arises against the aggressor.” George Whitecross Paton, A Textbook
of Jurisprudence 300 (G.W. Paton & David P. Derham eds., 4th ed. 1972).

- right of sepulcher. See quasi-property right (2).

- rights of minorities. See minority rights.
- secondary right. (17c) A right prescribed by procedural law to enforce a substantive right, such as the right to damages for a
breach of contract. • The enforcement of a secondary right is variously termed secondary enforcement, remedial enforcement,
or sanctional enforcement. — Also termed remedial right; sanctioning right.

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RIGHT, Black's Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019)

- second-generation rights. (1983) The social and economic rights of a people, including the right to be employed.
- substantial right. (18c) An essential right that potentially affects the outcome of a lawsuit and is capable of legal enforcement
and protection, as distinguished from a mere technical or procedural right.
- substantive right (səb-stən-tiv) (18c) A right that can be protected or enforced by law; a right of substance rather than form.
Cf. procedural right.

“Substantive rights are rights established by law. The term ‘substantive’ does not mean rights that are
‘important’ or ‘substantial,’ but rather those that have been conferred by the Constitution, by statute, or
by the common law.” 1 James W. Moore, Moore's Federal Practice § 1.05[2][b], at 1-29 (3d ed. 2016)
(citation omitted).

- third-generation right. (1979) (usu. pl.)The right of individuals to be part of whatever collective groups they identify with.
- unenumerated right. (1862) 1. A right retained by the people but not explicitly mentioned in the Bill of Rights. • The Ninth
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states: “The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to
deny or disparage others retained by the people.” This wording establishes the existence of unenumerated rights.

“Without doubt, the Ninth Amendment and its problem of identifying unenumerated rights continue to
bedevil interpreters, on and off the bench. Courts do continue to discover rights that have no textual existence
and might be considered unenumerated, but for the judicial propensity to ignore the Ninth Amendment
and make believe that some unspecified right under discussion derives from a right that is enumerated.
Opponents of such rights howl their denunciation of judicial activism. Court-invented rights exceed in
number the rights enumerated. Judges have composed rights great and small, including the Miranda rules,
the right to engage in nude dancing with pasties and G-string, the right to engage in flag desecration, the
right to secure an abortion, or the right against the invasion of an expectation of privacy.” Leonard W. Levy,
“Unenumerated Rights,” in Encyclopedia of the American Constitution 557 (1st Supp., Leonard W. Levy
ed., 1991).

2. See implied right.

- vested right. (18c) 1. A right that so completely and definitely belongs to a person that it cannot be impaired or taken away
without the person's consent. 2. A right that the holder can transmit by deed to others, and has transmitted to his or her heirs,
in the event of the holder's dying intestate.
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