Rights as formal combinations of normative variables

Abstract

Hohfeld’s table of legal positions, though highly consistent under his own assumptions, seems to be vulnerable to the exact flaws assignable to those assumptions. Specifically, the assumptions that a norm is not a necessary condition of a legal position and that one single action in a correlativity line is sufficient to bring about the action’s result. With a simple proposal of norm individuation, this paper develops a totally norm-based table of legal positions in which co-action from correlated agents is also considered (without threatening atomicity). Since a legal position is just the result of a combination of normative variables, the present approach leads to a strictly formal composition of legal positions in a way that challenges the role played so far by the traditional theories of rights.