Legal right
A legal right is an entitlement recognized and protected by law. It can give its holder a claim, freedom, power, or immunity within a legal system.
Hohfeldian analysis: A framework that distinguishes legal claims, privileges, powers, and immunities and their correlatives. It clarifies which kind of entitlement a legal right creates.
Constitutional law: The law governing a state's institutions, powers, and fundamental relations with people. Constitutions establish and limit many foundational rights.
Human rights: Rights understood as belonging to people by virtue of their humanity and protected through legal and political frameworks. They are a prominent class of legal rights, though their sources and enforcement vary.
Freedom of speech: A protected freedom to express opinions and communicate ideas, subject to legal limits that vary by jurisdiction. It shows how a legal right can constrain government regulation of expression.
Rule of law: The principle that public power is exercised under publicly established, consistently applied law. Rights can limit arbitrary power when courts and officials are bound by law.
Legal duty: An obligation imposed or recognized by law, breach of which may trigger legal consequences. A claim-right held by one person corresponds to a duty owed by another.
Statutory law: Law enacted by a legislature through formally prescribed procedures. Legislatures create, define, and revise rights through statutes.
Moral right: An entitlement or claim grounded in ethical principles rather than necessarily in enforceable law. A moral right can exist as an ethical claim without recognition by a legal system.
Right to privacy: A set of legal protections concerning personal information, private life, and freedom from certain intrusions. Privacy disputes test how rights apply to personal data and state or private conduct.
Access to justice: The ability to understand, use, and obtain fair outcomes from legal institutions and procedures. A right offers little practical protection when enforcement is inaccessible.