Colour of right, sometimes referred to as a claim of right, is a legal concept in common law countries concerning an accused's permission to use or convert an asset in the possession of another. The term can also refer to a right, authority or power conferred on an official through the relationship between various statutory or regulatory instruments, so that the official is granted a position's powers without actually occupying the position. In New Zealand's Crimes Act it means an honest belief that an act is justifiable. Using it as a defence does not automatically guarantee an acquittal, but it diminishes the mens rea component needed for a conviction. The requirements for proving colour of right differ in New Zealand from those in other common law countries as a result of Hayes v R.
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Classification
Doctrine Category Connections
In Area Of Law
Entity-backed identity for the doctrine category value this doctrine already carries as an enum fact, resolved to a doctrine entity by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The enum fact itself stays on the entity unchanged.
In Legal System
Source Colour of right (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Colour of right
the legal concept in common law countries of an accused's permission to the usage or conversion of an asset in the possession of anotherView the Source Colour of right (Wikipedia)
In Legal System: Common Law, Wikipedia lead sentenceQuote, In Legal System: Common Law, Wikipedia lead sentence
referred to as a claim of right, is the legal concept in common law countries of an accused's permission to the usage or conversion of an asset in
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