The concept of legal rights

Introduction

A legal right is a right which the state recognises and protects through its laws. The concept needs to be understood against the wider idea of rights.

Meaning and importance of rights

A right is an entitlement or a justified claim: what we may rightly claim as citizens, as individuals and simply as human beings, something that the rest of society must recognise as legitimate. Not everything that I want is a right; rights are those claims that I and others regard as necessary for a life of respect and dignity. They are claimed on two grounds, that they are conditions of dignity and self-respect (the right to livelihood, freedom of expression), and that they are necessary for well-being and the development of talents (the right to education). A claim that is injurious to others or to oneself, such as smoking or taking banned drugs, cannot be claimed as a right. Rights are claimed chiefly against the state: each right says what the state must do and what it must refrain from doing, so that rights place limits on the state's authority and make rulers accountable, for the state exists for the sake of the individual and not the reverse.

Legal rights and moral rights

Legal rights are claims recognised and enforced by the state, and they come from the constitution and from ordinary laws alike: NCERT calls the rights of equal citizenship legal rights, secured by the constitution and laws. The highest of them are constitutional. A Bill of Rights is part of many constitutions, in India the Fundamental Rights, and because the constitution is the highest law this recognition gives those rights a primary importance, which other laws are expected to respect. Ordinary legislation creates legal rights too: in India the right to information was granted through a new law. Some theorists define rights as claims recognised by the state. But legal endorsement, though it gives a special status, is not the basis on which rights are claimed: rights have been expanded and reinterpreted to include previously excluded groups.

Moral rights rest on conscience and ethical principle, not on enactment. Kant's view is the example NCERT gives: every person has intrinsic dignity and must be treated as an end, not as a means; this moral conception of rights has been a rallying point for those struggling against social hierarchies. NCERT describes them as claims that "appeal to our moral self", and their success depends on support from governments and the law.

Relation. Moral rights supply the reason for demanding legal recognition (the history of rights is the history of moral claims turned into law by struggle) and legal rights supply enforcement. A legal right may be morally objectionable (laws that denied equal rights to some groups), and a moral right may be unenforceable until it is legislated. The legal right is enforceable by a court; the moral right is enforced by public opinion and conscience.

Features, significance and limits of legal rights

1. Source and enforcement. Legal rights come from the constitution and laws and are enforced by courts. A constitution is the highest law, so constitutional recognition gives certain rights a primary importance: in India these are the Fundamental Rights, which other laws are supposed to respect.
2. Direction. They are mostly claims against the state, which must act in certain ways to give effect to them and refrain from certain actions: the police must produce an arrest warrant and give reasons before a court.
3. Context. The rights listed in a constitution may reflect a country's own history, as the ban on untouchability does in India.
4. Limits. Legal rights are only as good as their enforcement and may fail to include claims which are morally justified; the list of rights has been expanded and reinterpreted over time. They are also not absolute: they are limited by the equal rights of others and have to be balanced when they conflict.

Conclusion

Legal rights give moral claims legal force. They are the main safeguard of individuals against the state, but depend on a constitutional order that respects them and on citizens who watch over their limits.