A right is a claim of the individual upon something but this claim is valid only when the state or the society recognizes and maintains it. Rights are, therefore, social. As Green says, “No one, therefore, can have right except as a member of society”. It’s on behalf of a society that the state recognizes the rights of individuals and regulates them through its laws. So, rights are certain claims of the individuals which are recognized as such by the state.
What you have understood so far about rights are of the legalistic views which have some drawbacks. It can’t explain the true nature of the rights. What the state should maintain about rights? This legalistic approach does not help us determine that.
Every man has inborn abilities to develop himself but to do that he needs some exposure to seek from others, society, or the state. Without society or the state, none can have rights. Let’s define and explain the nature of rights.
What Are Rights?
As I, ve already said, rights are certain claims of the individuals upon the society or the state without which nobody can develop his or her personal capabilities to the fullest extent. Most political thinkers have defined rights in this way.
According to Prof. Laski, “Rights are those conditions of social life without which no man can seek to be himself at his best”.
Hobbhouse says, “Rights are what we may expect from others, and others from us. and all genuine rights are conditions of social welfare. Thus, the rights anyone may claim are partly those which are essential to every man in order to be a rational human person, and partly those which are necessary for the fulfillment of the function that society expects from him. They are conditioned by, and correlative to his social responsibilities”.
According to Holland, “Rights are one man’s capacity of influencing the acts of another by means of the opinion and force of the society”.
Sri Niwas Shastri says’ ” In its essence, a right is an arrangement, rule or practice sanctioned by the law of the community and conducive to the highest moral good of the citizen”.
Explain the Nature and the Concept of Rights
Rights are not only good and beneficial for the individuals but also for society itself. A person can’t enjoy rights unless he lives in the society and the state or the social sanctions and governs it for the well-being of the citizens. These conditions are called by the name of rights. To quote Laski, “Rights are those conditions of social life without which no man can seek, in general, to be himself at his best”. These are opportunities from the view of the individualism