ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the questions concern problems arising from the concept of ‘rights’. Some jurists have referred to jurisprudence as ‘the science of rights’, seeking to stress, presumably, the significance of human rights in any legal system and in any analysis of the purposes and functions of the law. The questions relate to Hohfeld (1879-1917), an American jurist who attempted to ‘isolate’ fundamental legal concepts so as to present them in a specific, unambiguous terminology, to Dworkin (b 1931) and his rights thesis, to the circumstances in which the overriding of individual rights might be justified, and to arguments concerning ‘the right to euthanasia’.
