In the case of State of Rajasthan vs. Union of India (1977), the Supreme Court defined legal right as, “In a strict sense, legal rights are correlatives of legal duties and are defined as interests which the law protects by imposing corresponding duties on others. But in a generic sense, the word “right” is used to mean an immunity from the legal power of another, immunity is exemption from the power of another in the same way as liberty is exemption from the right of another. Immunity, in short, is no subjection.”

1. LEGAL RIGHTS (NATURE, CHARACTERISTICS & KINDS)
DEFINITION
Salmond in his book Jurisprudence, quoted that, “A legal right is an interest recognised and
protected by a rule of legal justice- an interest the violation of which would be a legal wrong
done to him whose interest it is, and respect for which is a legal duty”.
Dean Roscoe Pound gives an exhaustive explanation of the conception of a Right. He says
that the term “Right”, as a noun, has been used in five senses in the law books:
 He says, is “interest”. It may mean (a) an interest one holds ought to be recognised and
secure. (b) It may mean “the interest recognised, delimited with respect to other
recognised interests, and secured”.
 He says that, “a recognised claim to acts or forbearance by another or all others in order
to make the interest effective, (a) legally, through application of the force of the
politically organised society to secure it as the law has delimited it (b) morally, by the
pressure of the moral sentiment of the community or of extra-legal- agencies of social
control.
 He says that, to designate a capacity of creating, divesting or altering rights in the
second sense and so of creating or altering duties. It mainly refers to “Power”.
 He says that, to designate certain conditions of general or special non-interference with
natural faculties of action; certain conditions, as it were, of legal hands off, i.e.,
occasions of which the law secures interests by living one of the free exercise of his
natural faculties. These are better called liberties and privileges.
 In addition, he says that, Right is, “used to mean that which accords with justice or that
which recognises and gives effect to moral rights”.
In the case of State of Rajasthan vs. Union of India (1977), the Supreme Court defined legal
right as, “In a strict sense, legal rights are correlatives of legal duties and are defined as
interests which the law protects by imposing corresponding duties on others. But in a generic
sense, the word “right” is used to mean an immunity from thelegal power of another, immunity
is exemption from the power of another in the same way as liberty is exemption from the right
of another. Immunity, in short, is no subjection.”
CHARACTERISTICS OF LEGAL RIGHT
According to Salmond, every legal right has following characteristics-

2.  It is vested in a person, who may be distinguished as the owner of the right, the subject
of it, the person entitled, or the person of inherence.
 It avails against a person, upon whom lies the correlative duty. He may be distinguished
as the person bound, or as the subject of the duty, or as the power of incidence.
 It obliges the person bound to an act or omission in favour of the person entitled. This
may be termed the content of the right.
 The act or omission relates to something which may be termed the object or subject-
matter of the right.
 Every legal right, has a title, that is to say, certain facts or events by reason of which
the right has become vested in its honour.
Every right involves in three-fold relationship in which the owner of it stands-
 It is a right against some person or persons.
 It a right to some act or omission of such person or persons.
 It is a right over or to something to which that act or omission relates.
As a rule, a right can’t be without an owner of it. A right is vested in some person particularly,
or some persons generally, and accordingly, it is a private or public right. There may, however,
be rights without a definite owner. Like Ownership need not to be vested in a definite person;
the owner of the right may be indeterminate.
KINDS OF LEGAL RIGHT
 Perfect and Imperfect Rights
A perfect right is one which corresponds to a perfect duty; and a perfect duty is one which is
not merely recognised by the law, but enforced by the law. A duty is enforceable when action
or legal proceeding will lie for its breach. An imperfect right is recognised by the law for certain
purposes, but is incapable of legal enforcement.
 Positive and Negative Rights
A positive right corresponds to a positive duty. Therefore, the person having the positive right
is entitled to something to be done by the person who has the corresponding positive duty. A
negative right corresponds to a negative duty.
 Rights in Rem and Rights in Personam

3. A right in rem corresponds to a duty imposed upon persons in general whereas a right in
personam corresponds to duty imposed upon determinate individuals. Rights in rem and rights
in personam are also known as real rights and personal rights respectively. A right in rem is
available against the world at large whereas a right in personam are available only against
particular persons.
 Proprietary and Personal Rights
Proprietary rights are those which have an economic significance, for example, rights of
ownership and possession, etc. The sum total of a man’s personal rights constitutes his status
or personal conditions, as opposed to his estate.
 Rights in Re Propria and Rights in Re Aliena
Right in re propria means right over one’s own property and right in re aliena means right over
the property of some else. In the widest sense of the term, re aliena may also called an
encumbrance.
 Principal and Accessory Rights
A principal right is the main or primary right vested in a person under the law. An accessory
is a secondary right which is connected to, or arises out of, the principal right.
 Primary and Sanctioning Rights
A sanctioning right originates from some wrong, i.e., from the violation of another right. These
are also known as antecedent or substantive rights. Primary rights have a source in something
other than wrongs.
 Legal and Equitable Rights
Legal rights are those which are recognised by the Courts of Common Law. Equitable Rights
(also called equities) are those which were recognised solely in the Court of Chancery. A legal
right is one which exists under the law. An equitable right is one which exists under the
supplement of equity. Equity is a corrective influence on law.
 Vested and Contingent Rights
A vested right creates an immediate interest. It is transferrable and heritable, whereas a
contingent right doesn’t create an immediate interest and it can be defeated when the required
facts have not occurred, i.e., a right which is contingent upon the happening of some event.

4.  Public and Private Rights
A right vested in the state is called a Public Right and it is possessed by every member of the
public. A private right, on the other hand, is concerned only with private individuals. In the
case of R vs. Somerset County Council ex parte Fewings (1995), the court held that, “for private
persons the rule is that you may do anything you choose which the law doesn’t prohibit. But
for Public bodies, the rule is opposite, that any action to be taken must be justified by positive
law”.
In the case of Priyanka Estates International (P) Ltd. vs. State of Assam (2010), the Supreme
Court held that that an individual has right including a fundamental right, within a reasonable
limit. If individual right encroaches upon public rights leading to public inconvenience, it has
to be curtailed to that extent. There is a need to balance individual rights and collective rights
in a maturing society.
REFERENCE
 Dias R.W.N, Jurisprudence, Eastern Book Company, Lucknow, 1994
 Fitzgerald P.J., Salmond on Jurisprudence, Universal Law Publisher, Delhi, 2004
 Friedman, Legal Theory, Columbia University Press, Columbia 1967
AUTHOR DETAILS
Vaibhav Goyal is a 3rd year BA.LLB (H) student of Panjab University, Chandigarh.