Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld lived from 1879 to 1918, an American jurist and professor at Yale Law School whose short career produced one of the most influential contributions to analytical jurisprudence. In two journal articles collected as Fundamental Legal Conceptions as Applied in Judicial Reasoning (1913 and 1917), he decomposed the loose concept of a legal right into eight fundamental, paired legal relations, rights and duties, privileges and no-rights, powers and liabilities, immunities and disabilities, a scheme still taught as the Hohfeldian analysis and widely used to clarify legal reasoning about entitlements.
Facts
RoleLegal theorist; professor, Yale Law School 1 Nationality / Jurisdiction Birth DateSourced to the subject's own account BirthplaceSourced to the subject's own account Death DateSourced to the subject's own account Place of DeathSourced to the subject's own account Classification
Field of LawLegal Philosophy and Jurisprudence 1 Role
Role (category) FAQs
What are the four pairs of correlatives in Hohfeld's analysis of rights?
Claim and duty; privilege and no-claim; power and liability; immunity and disability.
Hohfeld showed that the single word right covers four different legal positions: claim, privilege, power and immunity. Each position has a correlative position in the other party, which gives four pairs: claim and duty, privilege and no-claim, power and liability, and immunity and disability. For example, if Y has promised to paint X's house, X holds a contractual claim against Y and Y is under the correlative duty to paint it.
Connections
In Legal System
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
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Nationality
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Sources
1. Encyclopaedia Britannica
2. Wikidata: Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld
Wikidata Q877412 self-citation (QID resolved for a previously unsourced jurist)Quote, Wikidata Q877412 self-citation (QID resolved for a previously unsourced jurist)
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View the Source 3. Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIntroduction
Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld (August 9, 1879 - October 21, 1918) was an American legal scholar who wrote about jurisprudence and the nature of rights.
Early life, education, and legal practice section
Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld was born in Oakland, California, in 1879.
Death and legacy section
He died on October 21, 1918, in Alameda, California, of endocarditis induced by a severe infection during the 1918 flu pandemic.
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