Rights-related Terms and Their Definitions
Right (general definition) -- an entitlement or justified claim to a certain kind of positive and/or negative treatment from other persons, to assistance from and/or non-interference from others.
Rights in terms of duties – To say that a being has a right is to say that moral agents distinct from it have duties (or obligations) toward it, either duties of non-interference or duties to provide it with things it needs.
Moral agent – a being that is capable of conscious, deliberate choice and being held accountable for his or her actions; often equated with persons or even with adult human beings (and younger people insofar as they approximate adult conditions). Are corporations moral agents? Nation states? Political parties? Chimpanzees?
Legal right – a right whose justification rests upon a system of human law that is in effect in a certain community at a particular point in time.
Moral right – a right whose justification is independent of particular political communities, e.g., because it is rationally justified starting from certain principles that are “self-evident” or implicit in all or most cultural traditions. Sometimes, the case for moral rights starts from religious premises that are supposed to be perceptible by a universally shared sense of what is right and wrong.
Human right –similar to moral right, except that the term is closely linked to international treaty documents, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the outcome of human efforts to formulate and agree upon what is included under the heading of human rights.(Human rights thinking is concerned especially with the identification of a floor, metaphorically speaking, below which our treatment of other people should not fall.)
Positive right – a being has a positive right to something just in case moral agents distinct from it have duties to provide that being with something he, she, or it needs. Positive rights might include the right to receive food and water, medical care, education or training, where one is not able to provide those things for oneself.
Negative right (also called non-interference right) – a being has a negative right to X just in case moral agents distinct from it have duties not to interfere with it in certain ways. (The Lockean rights to life, liberty, and possessions are understood primarily as negative rights.)
Contractual right—a contractual right is a right that depends upon a specific agreement in which the person with the right has participated; typically, a contractual right comes into existence at the same time as contractual duties and depends upon those duties for its fulfillment. Contractual rights and duties are produced (under capitalism) by means of a sale and purchase agreement.
The bearer of a right – the person or persons or entity that “has” the right.
The addressee of a right – the person or persons or entity that has duties because another “has” a right.
The object of a right – the thing to which a bearer of a right has a right.
Universality of rights –Rights, especially moral or human rights, apply to everybody unless they have done something to forfeit use of those rights. (The burden of proof in specific cases is on those who advocate such forfeiture.) Legal rights, since they pertain to a certain jurisdiction,are less universal than human rights.
Forfeiture – A person may forfeit a right, or lose the full enjoyment of a right, insofar as he or she has provably violated the rights of others.
Justice (Fundamental Principle of)-- In assignment of benefits and burdens, those who are equal in relevant ways should be treated equally, those who are unequal in relevant ways should be treated unequally in proportion to their inequality.
J. Garrett
April 25, 2012