ABSTRACT
The value theory of rights is actually the most currently popular way to justify non-positive rights. Its main thesis is that the ultimate source of any moral right is the intrinsic value of the bearer of that right. A juridical norm is a positive norm if and only if its validity stems from an act of legislation by a legislative organ of a state which has the power and the intention to punish transgressions of that norm. According to a contractualist foundation of law, as developed in the preceding section, communicating persons have both non-positive rights and non-positive obligations against each other. These rights and obligations concern the creation of a state and the putting in force and administering of positive law. The right to self-government is not identical with a right to secession. It normally should go together with the transformation of the former state into a federal state.
