Course Information
- 2024-25
- CIR214
- 5-Year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.), 3-Year LL.B. (Hons.), LL.M., Master's Programme in Public Policy
- III, IV, V
- Mar 2025
- Elective Course
The law is filled with discussions about rights. Rights are foundational to the law and legal system, structuring relationships in private and public life, and giving rise to complex arrangements of freedom, authority and responsibility. These rights are diverse – the right to freedom of speech and expression, the right not to be murdered, the right to legislate, and the right to participate in public life, among others. Often, our focus lies on the contents of these rights and their application by courts. Rarely do we interrogate the theoretical foundations of legal rights.
By abstracting from the specific contents of rights, this course attempts to answer the fundamental question about the nature of rights. Specifically, the course is centered around three critical questions: (1) What are the forms of rights? (2) What are the functions of rights? and (3) What are the justifications of rights?
To answer these questions with the view to explicate the nature of rights, the course will adopt the following structure:
Module 1 introduces the notion of rights, contextualising the philosophical debates regarding their nature, value and force.
Module 2 discusses the Hohfeldian framework of jural relations, outlining the various forms of rights in law.
Module 3 provides an overview of different theories of rights (Will, Interest and Hybrid theories) that conceptualise distinct functions of rights.
Module 4 presents two competing justifications of rights proposed by Dworkin and Raz, interrogating the strength of rights in law.
Each week, this course will discuss a key theme that relates to disambiguating the notion of a right. Though the debates involved are set at a level of abstraction, the course will elucidate the important implications of these concepts on the everyday practice of law, by incorporating case studies and hypothetical legal problems based on the readings in class. Consequently, classes will be seminar-style discussions, and students are expected to read beforehand and participate actively in discussions.
